Ten Ways To Say I Love You
by MssrTragicandConsumptive
Summary: What starts out as an adventure to help James win the Heart of one Lily Evans, turns into a mixed up and confusing path to finding love in all the wrong places. James isn't the only one who is stung by cupid this year! Sirius/Remus Wolfstar James/Lily Fifth year
1. Being A Gentleman

_So this is going to be a bit of a project I have put together for my Lovely Padfoot, who is currently trying so hard to finish a very exhausting portfolio. This chapter was suppose to be up last night, but do to some complications, there will be two chapters today instead. _

_This is for you Babu!_

**Part One- ****Part One- Being a Gentleman Means No Trouser Hats**

The Gryffindor common room was thick with the late summer heat dripping through the windows, thrown open in hopes that the late hour would bring some relief from the sweltering temperatures that they had been suffering since their arrival on the grounds that afternoon. The fifth year dormitory, amok with half-unpacked trunks and bags, was almost an oven, and it's occupants were sprawled on the floor, to escape the thick humidity.

"Moony...how can you read in this heat...after eating all that food..." James moaned from where he was half comatose at the foot of his bed.

"Well...first I open the book, then I find my place, and then I look at the page..." Remus said rather absently. He was so used to James' antics by now he could read and answer without thinking as he thumbed a page over. He leaned back against his trunk and yawned slightly.

"It's because he's a madman." Sirius said thickly, from where he was thrown across Remus' legs, something else that Remus had become accustomed too. Not that this was something he had a choice in. He had tried many things to keep Sirius' from laying on him like a puppy, especially when it was hot, even throwing the book he was reading at the mess of black hair snuffling against his knee. Nothing had worked, so his being tolerant was really just quiet defeat.

"I am not a madman. I am trying to read, and Sirius you are cutting off the circulation to my feet." Remus mumbled from behind the book. Sirius, as predicted, did not move.

"Is that a fat joke, Moony? It is, isn't it. You're so cruel." Sirius bemoaned against Remus' thigh.

"Did you see Evans hit Prongs on the train?" Peter snicked, ignoring Sirius all together. James made a dying noise.

"Yes, well he was trying to guess what she was thinking, and sadly, he is not gifted with Divination, or women." Remus replied in the same disinterested voice. He had indeed seen the magnificent sight of on Lily Evans' backhanding on unsuspecting Prongs. Though by this point Remus and Sirius were both in agreement that after four years of being smacked squarely multiple times a week, at some point he might learn. This, very obviously, was not the case.

"I have to do something! I have to try something new this year! Lily will learn that I am the only man for her!" James sat straight up in his vigor, eyes suddenly burning with that scary passion that always was a little unnerving to Remus, especially with his glasses askew and his hair all over.

"James...I think _you_ might be the madman." he dead-panned. Peter snickered. James glared at them both.

"No-no. I'm not kidding around guys, this year I am going to do it. I will win Lily Evans' heart. I just need a plan. What haven't I tried?" he crossed his arms over his chest, face screwing up into an expression of concentration.

"Being a civil human being?" Remus offered, a twitch of a smile on his lips. He then had to duck the shoe thrown at his head with Sirius pinning him down.

"How about reading her poetry? Girls like that stuff." Peter grinned, a sappy look on his porky, pink face.

"Yeah, and so does Moony." Sirius snorted. Remus kneed him in the gut and he groaned. "H-hey!"

"You're a wank." Remus crossed his arms.

"You're point? You don't kick a man when he's down Moony!"

"You aren't _down_! You are _On. My. Legs._" Remus gave Sirius an irritated look. "If you don't want to be kneed for calling me a woman, then get off, then I can slug you instead."

"-Guys."

Remus and Sirius looked at Peter, who was looking at Remus with a spark, an idea. This was never a good thing. Remus squirmed. Whenever Peter had ideas they ended in trips to the hospital wing, or worse, complete mortification in a public aspect.

"...What is it Peter?" Sirius asked. James looked at them as if this was the roadmap to his romantic success.

"Well...Remus knows about love and stuff. He reads all those books about John Air and Shakyness..."

Remus cringed and made a small noise. "Jane Austin and William Shakespeare, Peter, honestly. If you are going to bring them up at least bother to say the names correctly. Jane Eyre Was a book, not an author-" Remus trailed off as he realized, with a sinking feeling, that he had just proved Peter's point, and signed himself up for something he really wanted nothing to do with. "-Oh...no. No. Absolutely not." He picked his book back up and stuck his nose back into the dusty pages so that he could ignore the rather intent looks.

"C'mon Moony, help a fellow mate out. You know the ways of the ladies hearts, there must be something in those piles of books you read that could give our good man Prongs a chance!" Sirius finally sat up, only to lean forward and pluck the shield book from Remus' fingers.

"I hate you." Remus growled at Sirius, not meeting the begging look on James' face.

"C'mon Moony, you'd be a total ladies man if you believed in dating!" Peter tried again.

"I don't _not_ believe in dating, I just find it a waste of time. I don't think we should be chasing little flouncy Hufflepuffs-" at this he gave Sirius a pointed look. "-When we should be studying."

"You're such a damp jumper." James mumbled. Sirius made a sort of face at James' comment.

Remus bristled and his shoulders went stiff. The first night back together and he was being heckled into doing something that could get him killed by an angry redhead because he didn't want to look like a lame, boring, musty werewolf...which he was, but that wasn't the point. He certainly wasn't going give James the satisfaction of knowing he had hit a nerve, that would only make him look more like a berk than he already did.

"Remus..." Sirius said, the playfulness gone from his voice. Sirius was sort of magically good at knowing when something bothered Remus. "Just give Prongs a hand, so that he will still be around come next summer."

Remus and Sirius' eyes met, and he knew right then that he had already caved in.

"Fine-Fine. Whatever. Merlin's beard I have just sentenced myself to death."

"Yes!" Peter fist-pumped the air.

"You are a saint!" James launched himself forward and crashed into Remus, lying on top of him and hugging him.

"Ouf-! Bleeding-James! Get off!" Remus yelped as all of James and his pointy elbows and sharp angles squished him to the floor.

"Just tell me what to do and I will obey to the last word!" James cried out.

Sirius stroked his chin as if he had a beard. "Prongs, mate, there won't be a Moony left to aid you in your Endeavour for miss Evans' heart if you smother him."

"Err-" James sat up and Remus made a dying noise. "Sorry Moony."

"Get. Off." Remus batted at James' chest until he was again sitting a safe distance away and not squashing Remus' internal organs with his incredibly bony arse. Remus blew a few sandy brown curls from his eyes and rested his chin on a palm.

"Okay. If you want to win Lily's heart, poor bird she is, then you will need to listen to what I say very carefully."

"I will do whatever you say." James said very seriously, nodding and looking as if he was about to be told a life changing prophecy.

"Whatever he says?" Sirius smirked. James threw his other shoe at Sirius and it smacked him in the head, eliciting a horrible cry and a painful thud as he fell backwards into Peter's trunk.

"Okay. First of all, don't kill Sirius. He promised to tutor me in potions, and you know people will die if he doesn't." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Right." James nodded.

"Fuck you." Sirius growled from under s pair of Peter's trousers.

"I could tutor you-" Peter started.

"No." The other three cut him off in unison.

"Alright James, the first thing you have to do to win Lily's heart..." Remus leaned forward and eyed James, who fidgeted slightly at the intensity of Remus' gaze. "Is not-I repeat and emphasize-_not_ be a giant tit around her. I know this is a completely ridiculous concept to you and your finger-combing, poncy antics, but I mean it. That does not amuse girls at all. Do little things, ask her how her day was and _listen_ to her. Actually respond and ask questions. Pull out her chair for her when you have a chance. You have to show her you aren't immature. Which I feel may possibly be horribly misleading to her..." Remus looked thoughtful a moment.

"Hey! I am completely mature!" James cried indignantly. "And what sort of girls are you trying to woo anyway, Remus. You sound a million years old."

"James...you make fart jokes in front of the third year girls." Peter pointed out.

"...he has a point!" Sirius' arm shot up from under Peter's trouser's in an exclamation.

"Thank you, for your oh so gently out opinions." James mumbled, but looked back to Remus, who was playing with the frayed edge of his jumper as he thought. "So that it?"

"No. That is the first step. Show her you can be a gentleman and pay attention to what she has to say." Remus nodded. "And then we will move forward."

Sirius sat up and caught Remus' hand from picking at the loose string on the jumper, pulling out his want and tapping the edge absently so that it mended, looking at James.

"So no dung bombs in the girls bathrooms, Prongs. We will have to unload on Slytherin instead."

Remus looked at his repaired jumper and blinked. That wasn't something Sirius knew how to do last year. He looked between the two of them.

"How about no dung bombs at all?" Remus asked hopefully.

"Not a chance!" Peter, James, and Sirius snorted together. Remus laughed.

"Well it was worth a shot!" he put his hands up in defeat. Sirius chuckled and ruffled Remus' hair.

"You like it too, you just won't admit it, Mssr. Prefect Moony." He smiled lazily. Remus rolled his eyes, not saying anything, because Sirius was right.

Somehow, it felt as if this was going to turn into one of the more trying projects the marauders would take on, and Remus had this inkling suspicion that none of them would be able to predict the outcome.


	2. Explosive Reactions

_ALRIGHT. If there are any terrible typos, they will be fixed in the morning when I reread this, because I am falling asleep. Here is Part two for my Babu! 4000 words in a day after not doing much writing was really hard. _

_PRESENT FOR BABU IS WORTH IT._

_Mssr. T&C  
_

**Part Two- Explosive Reactions**

There were many reasons Remus Lupin hated the potions dungeon. Not counting the fact that he was absolutely dreadful at brewing potions, and Professor Slughorn didn't fancy him in the least, it smelled of three hundred million various things. The stone floor had seen so many spills that it wasn't a solid color anymore, and the tables were covered with stains and scorch marks. There were no windows to air out the putrid smells of potions gone wrong. Take into account that it was two days after a full moon and Remus' sense of smell was still heightened, and he _already_ had a headache, there was nothing pleasant, welcoming, or wanted about the double potions scratched onto his schedule.

All the clanging and banging that was happening around him made trying to remember what it was he was suppose to do with the Salamander skin borderline impossible, so Remus dropped his pale face into his hands, rubbing his temples. Maybe he would just vomit on someone and get sent out sick. That seemed like a perfectly logical and decent idea. Someone slammed a cauldron down and Remus winced. There had to be a way out of this.

"Remus?" Sirius' voice cut through the noise like a knife, the familiar touch falling onto his shoulder. He peered through his fingers, eyes dark-rimmed and bloodshot at the pair of concerned gray eyes.

"Brain me. With the cauldron. Please." Remus hissed, voice slightly muffled by his palms. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to brain you with a cauldron, Moony. That would be a great big mess. Head goo all over and such." Sirius stepped a little closer and looked down at the mess of ingredients Remus had been trying to puzzle out. "Do you want my help?"

"Honestly Sirius, its a lost cause. Just...knock me unconscious. My head is killing me." Remus had little to no intention to work on the rest of his potion, even if Sirius somehow made the directions make sense.

Remus felt Sirius' fingers catch his wrists and pull his hands from his face. He sighed and grumbled. "You're going to make me do this aren't you."

"I'm going to help you do it before you blow the cauldron up in a fit of Moony Rage." Sirius replied with a quirky little smile as he patted Remus' hand.

"Moony rage? Couldn't you just fix it with your jumper mending spell? You should teach that to me, by the way. Where did you learn it?" Remus picked up the Salamander skin with distaste and set it on the cutting board. When Sirius didn't respond promptly he looked up, then paused. Sirius' face was a little red.

"...I-...Learned it over the summer...well, looked for it, actually. I thought about it last year when you picked at the sleeve of our favorite jumper until it got a big old hole...thought maybe I could lengthen the shelf life a bit." he didn't look at Remus, but very purposefully at the instructions in the potions book, under the bold title of 'Dandruff Reducer'.

Remus stared at Sirius, not entirely what to make of this new information. "You did it for me?"

"-See, you were missing the Lavander twigs, you have to mash them to a paste!" Sirius declared over Remus a little too purposefully, his normally pale face still very flushed. Remus counted out the number of Lavender twigs needed, eyes slipping over to Sirius. Why would he spend the time to learn a spell just to mend Remus' jumpers? That was such a...a _thoughtful _thing for Sirius to do.

A few tables down James was working every syllable of what Remus had told him, leaning against Lily's tabletop and watching her empty the mortar into her bubbling cauldron. She was eying him like he was poisonous.

"What do you mean 'how is my day'?" She raised an eyebrow at him, expecting him to pull something potentially dangerous that might emit a bad smell if thrown or detonated, not look at her and ask her about her day like a perfectly civil human being.

"I mean, how has your day been? Did you do anything fun in class?" James repeated, looking at her with a causal interest, meanwhile internally about to combust from the stress of trying to keep anything possibly offensive or potentially explosive from slipping out of him. Lily narrowed her bottle green eyes.

"Someone hit you in the head, didn't they." she said stiffly. James bristled.

"I just asked you how you were!" He couldn't help the affronted tone to his voice.

"Exactly. You never bother to do that, you always jump right to 'Let me take you out because I think I'm such a stud'!" Lily snapped over her Cauldron.

"Well at least I don't hit people who ask me out!" James snapped back, his manners, once again, forgotten.

Severus Snape, who had been working with Lily before James had come sauntering up, was glaring darkly through his hair at the Gryffindor boy. He then turned without warning and went over to where Remus' cauldron was smoking purple because he had added a bit too much essence of Leech.

"Looks like the tutoring isn't going particularly well." he sneered at Remus, who's pale face was filled with panic.

Remus, for the first time he could possibly recall, actually wanted to punch Snape. This was not something he normally harbored, or participated in, no matter how passively cruel the greasy Slytherin boy could be, he would always find some way to rationalize and stay calm. Instead of punching, however, he listened carefully to what Sirius was telling him to fix the quickly escalating mess.

"You know, that won't do anything," Snape pointed out to Sirius as he handed Remus a bottle of something blue.

"It will neutralize it! Fuck off!" Sirius snapped at Snape.

Before Remus could snatch the bottle from Sirius' fingers the contents of the cauldron exploded, sending globs of stinking ooze in all directions.

"I told you-" Snape started.

"_Shut up_!' Sirius snarled.

"Severus?" Lily looked across the classroom at the boys now covered in snotty looking globs of potion.

"...I am going to fail this class." Remus groaned.

"Lily, just keep talking to me!" James caught her wrist.

"Let go Potter!" Lily whirled and smacked James squarely across the face and crossed the room without hesitation. James stood their, stunned as if it had never happened before.

"-Well if he had added a few rose petals-" Snape continued.

"Did you not hear me through all the grease in your ears?" Sirius caught Snape by the robes and yanked him forward.

"SIRIUS STOP!" Lily and Remus snapped in unison.

Lily shot forward and caught Snape's hand, glaring angrily at Sirius. Remus sighed and caught the arm that Sirius had raised to deck Sirius. Professor Slughorn always picked the worst times to step out of the classroom. He held on to Sirius firmly.

"What? Are you going to let _him_ from punching me? That never stops you...You just don't want to admit you were wrong!" Snape continued.

"Severus, stop egging him on!" Lily gave Snape a confused look, she didn't hadn't seen Snape like this before, and he rarely got feisty when she was around, always playing victim.

"I will punch the bleeding fuck out of you you slimy-" Sirius lunged forward again Remus, who really wasn't in any shape to hold him off, and was obviously not going to get help from James, who was still in shock.

"Sirius-no-you can't-hit him-" He snapped through gritted teeth. Sirius was already on detention for getting caught setting off dungbombs in the Slytherin common room, (despite what Remus had told them.) and he couldn't get another does without suffering in the homework department.

"Why not!" Sirius snapped at Remus, who was barely keep him in check by this point.

"Because I won't ever see your stupid face if you get more detention!" Remus glared, his voice rough with effort.

"Are you going to hit me or not!" Snape snarled, piratically manic. "Do it! I dare you! Or are you too much of a prat? Gonna listen to the goody little Prefect?"

"Severus stop!" Lily's voice broke with desperation, still trying to tug him free of Sirius' grip.

Sirius was shaking, fingers trembling. Remus could see how much he wanted to just shove him off and smash his fist into Snape's sneering face. However, Sirius glanced over at Remus, who was exerting far more effort than he should be using. Remus could feel himself about to give up, shaking with exhaustion trying to keep Sirius in check.

"Please-" Remus tried again.

Sirius' eyes locked with Remus.

"You're a coward!" Snape snarled, yanking free of Lily, who was trying to pull him away as Sirius' grip went slack on his robes. Snape lunged forward and punched Sirius in the face. No one was expecting this and Sirius yelped, then tripped backwards into Remus and they both went crashing to the floor. Lily stared. Snape made a vicious noise and stormed out. James stared.

"Merlin's beard. Snivellus...just punch Pads." He announced.

"Thank you for the observation, James Bleeding Potter." Lily snapped, then went after Snape.

* * *

"Owowowow-Moony-that hurts-" Sirius gasped as Remus pressed a icepack to Sirius' bruised jaw.

"Just hold still...I can't believe he actually punched you..." Remus murmured, shifting on the common room sofa to get a better angle at Sirius' face.

"You should have let me punch him." Sirius pouted. "Before he punched me."

"Sirius...you couldn't afford another detention sentence." Remus didn't meet Sirius' eyes, praying that he wouldn't bring up that that wasn't exactly why he had kept Sirius from punching Snape.

"I can't believe she hit me!" James moaned from the chair weakly.

"...I can." Remus grumbled. "As soon as she hit a pressure point you turned into a twat."

"...How would you know?" James sat up in his chair.

"...I'm a werewolf James. I hear better than most people." Remus rolled his eyes. "You have to expect that she won't believe that you are changing your ways. After all, she has four years and three weeks of proof that you are and always be, nothing but trouble."

"But I'm sexy trouble." James replied.

"Excuse me, but I think _I_ was the one who was punched in the face. Why am I not being coddled?" Sirius pouted at Remus pathetically.

"Because it was your own fault." Remus replied. Sometimes he felt like the babysitter of a lot of children. Sirius made a rather undignified noise and pouted at his shoes.

"Remus, she doesn't believe me! You have to have a better idea than talking to her." James replied desperately. "What else can I do?"

"James...honestly. You have to be polite even when she isn't, it will surprise her if you don't blow up or get offended. It will show maturity." Remus sighed. "You could also try doing something nice for her. Something nice like flowers, not taping pictures of yourself blowing her kisses all over her books."

"That was only once!"

"It was still creepy mate." Sirius replied, looking up, wincing. Remus caught his chin and held him still with surprising firmness.

"Oh _fine_ then!" James snapped, standing and stalking off to the dormitories.

"And you say that _I_ act like a woman." Remus looked at Sirius, arching an eyebrow and fixing him with a rather curious expression.

"...You know, sometimes you and Prongs tie for the Womanly Flower of the Month award." Sirius nodded. Remus smooshed his hand against Sirius face as a response.


	3. A MidFall Night's Mistake

_Alright Babu! I have made you the next chapter and things are getting steamy! I hope you like it, for it took a large amount of forethought to get the thing to work out, and for the funny subtext to work! I love you so much baby! Seven more days! You can do it! I will be with you every step of the way!_

**Part Three- A Mid-Fall Night's Mistake**

The castle was bustling with the excited talk of Halloween as the courtyard became a myriad of colors, leaves collecting at the entrances and getting swept in with the cloaks being dawned to keep the chilly breeze from seeping through the sweaters and robes. As with every Halloween, Professor Dumbledore had picked a theme for the costumes that people would wear to the feast that would be held in honor of the holiday. This year they were to pick something from old literary tales.

However, as the summer warmth faded, and the days grew shorter, the determination in one James Potter was growing stronger. He currently sat on the floor of the Dormitory, eyes fixed on Remus and Sirius, who were discussing the costumes they would put together. Remus was particular fond of the year's choice in costumes, as he knew more than plenty about all the stories that had good costume choices. He and Sirius usually did something where they were from the same of whatever the theme was that year. Remus could feel Sirius' curious eyes on him, watched the tiny, amused smile on his lips as he gesticulated in excitement.

"We could do something like the Three Musketeers..." Sirius tried when he managed to get a word in edgewise through Remus' bantering.

"How about Frankenstein?" Remus offered. "Of the Picture of Dorian Gray, or Beowolf-"

"Remus...I don't think Peter can pronounce half of those, let alone manage to dress up from one." Sirius laughed.

"Lily is doing a Midsummer Night's Dream." James said sullenly. "Which I am not entirely sure _what_ that is, and when I said as much, she gave me a look like I had sprouted a bloody ear on my forehead."

"...Mate, everyone knows Shakespeare." Sirius said, arching an eyebrow.

"You only know what the hell it is because you read over Moony's shoulder." James retorted. "What use is some Shaky-man anyway? How will he do anything to help me in my epic quest to win Lily's heart?"

"_William Shakespeare_ was actually a very popular romantic, James. His sonnets have been used to win the hearts of many since they were put down on paper. Though a Midsummer Night's Dream is a bit more satirical, it is still a very famous love story." Remus put a finger to his lips. "Actually...this could really work out. Who is she going to be?"

"Hermia?" James was staring at Remus, which was a little unnerving to be honest, because the look behind his glasses was borderline manic.

"I have an idea. Its time for step three. So what do your guys say to a party in the common room for Halloween?" Remus folded his arms over his chest. In the back of his mind he was fairly certain this was a tragically bad idea. A Marauder's hosted party almost always resulted in something he regretted the next day. Like hangovers. Those were nasty business. However, he had a rather interesting idea, and it involved a Shakespearean themed party, and this was something Remus Lupin simply could not resist.

"When are we _not _up for a party?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. Remus smiled.

* * *

This was how the Marauders ended up throwing a Halloween party after the feast, based entirely on the Shakespearean play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. This involved a large amount of charm work on Remus' part, not to mention rereading the play so he knew how to make the common room look like the enchanted forest. Ivy and other various forms of plant life hung all around, Sirius had managed to make a bunch of rather magical orbs float around to give a more mystical type of lighting. James procured the booze, and Peter, as always with Marauding parties, did the invitation announcements at night, because he honestly couldn't sneak booze, charm plants, create lights, or even hang up decorations on a chair. Something always went horribly wrong.

It wasn't the party that Remus had any problems with for once in all the years that they had been illegally throwing late night holiday bashes, it was was his costume. Anyone who knew the play in any aspect would see why Remus had such qualms at being cast as Titania. After all, why in Merlin's name would a _boy_ want to be playing the Fairy _Queen_? Sirius had been very insistent, saying that he couldn't be Demetrius because then he would be thrown in with the four way love spat, and that Snape was apparently trying to get the costume together as well. However, Sirius was going at Oberon, the Fairy King. This was another aspect that Remus didn't understand. Sirius had simply said that because they were thinking about going as Holmes and Watson, what would it matter if they went as the fairy king and queen? Remus had explained rather tartly that it meant that they were married.

This was where James kindly offered that they already acted like a married couple, and Peter nodded and added that Remus could always just do a male version of the outfit...which implied that there were two fairy kings, to which Remus wasn't even capable of making further comment, and decided he would bare with the stupidity for James sake. Because he was such a kind and selfless bloke.

This was how Remus Lupin and Sirius Black ended up attending the marauder's Pumpkin Bash as King and Queen on the common room forest, and Remus wanted to kill himself. James was oblivious to this situation, and Remus' valiant kindness that wasn't really noticed, because Lily had finally realized that James was dressed as her literary lover, and stopped dead in the doorway, looking positively horrified.

"This is going to be a long night." Remus mumbled. He was wearing a long, flowy, blue and white sort of toga-esque draping, he had played with it to look more masculine, but he still looked like he was wearing a dress. Sirius had even nested flowers in into his loose, curling hair. He stared very pointedly at his feet as Sirius threw an arm around him. He was wearing nothing but a pair of purple trousers, bare-chested, with a leaf crown on his head. He looked quite nice actually, minus being so pale, but at the moment Remus really didn't want them touching. It just looked that much more questionable.

"Long? But my dear Titania-" Sirius started.

"Sirius...for once in your life...shut up." Remus growled. Sirius only chuckled.

"This will be fun, Remus, just wait and see."

"James...You...you did this on purpose." Lily growled, as James, dressed in a colorful tunic and trousers, hair wild as ever, came striding up. He bowed lowly, then smiled up at her.

"Why Helena, you look positively marvelous." He drawled. He had actually bothered to skim through the play to get the basic idea of what it was he was suppose to say and act like. Lily stared at him.

"Did someone hit you in the head?" She continued, not buying the performance, though without Snape, who had indeed tried to pull of Demetrius as well, but looked more like a rather demented Hamlet in all the black, she didn't seem as guarded.

"Sweet Helena, your words cut like knives, why not put such acusacions aside and accompany me for a drink?" he straightened and held out an arm with all the gentlmanliness of a real prince.

Lily narrowed her eyes, and after much contemplation, slowly set her hand in the crook of James' arm, lifting the flowing green skirt she wore up enough to walk without tripping. The pair of them actually looked quite smart. Lily, with her hair loose and curling over her shoulder and down her back, looked like one of the faeries she was so pretty. James did not miss this.

"Looks like James had finally got the right idea." Peter said, walking over to where Remus and Sirius were getting the party into motion. Sirius handed Remus a glass full of something sparkling and more than likely, spiked beyond belief. Remus took it gratefully. For once the idea of drinking did not sound absolutely terrible.

"Well at least he is having some luck." he mumbled over the rim of the glass.

"Remus is just jealous because he think Lily looks prettier than him." Sirius stage whispered to Peter. Remus smacked Sirius across the face and stormed off into the mess of tangled vegetation.

"...ow." Sirius blinked, holding his face and looking mildly shocked. "He hits hard."

"...I don't blame him. After all, you did make him your Queen." Peter snickered. Sirius looked away and didn't say anything.

A few hours went by and somehow spin the bottle was suggested as a party game. By this point most of the older students who would have protested were buzzed enough that the idea wasn't argued. Remus personally hadn't had enough to drink, but with the night going by without James getting smacked, Remus wondered if James would get lucky enough to land on Lily and possibly get to kiss her at least on the cheek. Which would be a huge step forward.

After sitting down, Remus watched the game start. A third year girl started the game, landing on Arthur Weasley, who bashfully took the kiss. Molly glared from across the room. From there, the bottle spun and people got up and walked around passing kissing. Remus was sure that Gryffindor tower would suffer an episode of strep or mono, or something horrible and passed via mouths.

His train of thought was terminated when the bottle landed on Lily. She was kissed on the cheek by a fourth year girl. Remus followed Lily as she stood, walking over and bending, thin wrist flicking. The bottle spun in slow motion, and James fidgeted beside Sirius. It slowly came to a stop. The whole room stopped breathing. James went a splotchy purple.

The bottle was pointing at Remus.

"Oh bugger." Remus mumbled, going scarlet. He was going to be murdered.

Lily sauntered over and knelt in front of Remus, Remus in his dress, next to Peter, dressed in a bubblegum pink rendition of puck. Remus who really did not want to be murdered by his best mate.

"Errr-"

"Don't look so scared Remus...I don't bite." Lily laughed softly. Remus blinked. She had just glanced at James. She had just looked over. And James was definitely watching.

Remus couldn't get another word out as Lily cupped his face in a long-fingered, very soft girl hand. She leaned forward and mushed her soft girl lips to his. Remus blinked. It wasn't unpleasant, she smelled nice, and made a sort of happy little noise against him, but at the same time he could feel the daggers being thrown at him by James' eyes, which was more than unnerving. She pulled back and smiled.

"Wow." She grinned.

"Eeeennnff" Remus replied articulately. She just smiled, stood, and sauntered back to her spot.

Peter elbowed Remus. It was his turn. Great. His turn. Just what he needed. He could feel Sirius, Peter and James, not to mention everyone else, eying him as he stood up, people talking excitedly as he twisted the bottle with shaky fingers. It spun on the stone floor, then stopped.

"Oh...fuck." Remus stammered.

"Oh...oh hell." Sirius repeated.

Remus traced the trajectory of the bottle three times before confirming that all the gods and forces in the universe had it out for him. He had landed on Sirius Black.

Remus walked over and looked at Sirius, and for some reason his heart was now slamming around wildly in his chest. He could just kiss him on the cheek? Ow ironic, after the costume choices. But why did he keep thinking about the other kiss. The kiss where he could...his face got more red than when Lily had kissed him as he knelt in front of Sirius, who actually looked just as nervous.

"Err-I-can just-sorry-just...real quick on the cheek-" Remus stumbled.

"I-Ummm-" Sirius mumbled.

"Oh just _do _it!" Peter urged, pushing Remus' arm to hurry him up.

Remus leaned into brush a kiss onto Sirius' cheek, but at the very last second Sirius moved his head.

And then Remus was kissing him. On the lips.

His heart shot into his throat and his whole body tingled as Sirius leaned forward, time slowed to a stop.

Someone cleared their throat.

Remus pulled back.

Remus stood up.

And then without a second though, his head was spinning to hard for actual thinking, Remus fled for the stairs like the woman he was dressed as. Leaving a stunned Sirius in his wake.


	4. In The Closet

_Seven hours of muddled concentration later, we have the next chapter. I apologize for the quality of this chapter, my brain took a hike halfway through and I got firmly stuck. Stay tune for the next chapter tomorrow! My Babu still has six days to go! So I will keep posting diligently to support her! _

_BECAUSE I LOVE YOU SWEETHEART._

_I'm going to go be a puddle now._

**Part Four- In The Closet…**

Remus looked at his hands. He hadn't really looked elsewhere for the past hour. In his left hand, stained with dark splotches of ink on his scarred skin, was his quill, which hadn't written a thing on the length of blank parchment that was suppose to be filled on the ethics of Warlocks within the next two days. He couldn't think about warlocks however, or their ethics, or anything else for that matter. He couldn't tell you what Professor Binns had even lectured on for the past three days. He had far more important things to do with his time, which was almost blasphemous coming from the one who put his homework before all other things that happened in his life, with the exception of Prefect duties. As a matter of fact, trying to pretend that he had not kissed Sirius Black, was taking up all his concentration.

The entire incident at the Halloween party had been avoided like the plague when it came to Remus and Sirius and the spin the bottle game. Neither of them brought up what had happened, they pretended like the whole party had gone over smoothly and Remus hadn't left early and hid in the bathroom the rest of the night like a third year girl turned down for a dance. Instead they went about their business with a bit more space than usual, only talked when they absolutely had too, and avoided touching like it would somehow result in one of them having to open their mouth about how snogging their best mate wasn't Kosher.

Remus chewed on his quill, watching the rest of the common room either studying, playing a game of chess, or chatting by the fire. There was a truth he didn't want to admit however, and it wasn't so much about kissing his best mate...it was about liking the kiss. That was what Remus John Lupin, Werewolf Prefect, was determined to ignore. Because he was not even going to consider that line of thought. As far as he was concerned, that kiss had never happened, or the party for that matter. He shuffled his feet under the table and looked down at the parchment. There was a little problem with his plan however...

"Well if it isn't the bloke who kissed Lily Evans."

"Hello James."

"I hate you." James, who had finally come down from brooding in the dormitory, to brood in the common room, sat heavily in the chair across from Remus, arms crossed over his chest, a deep, angry frown stuck to his face.

"I will have you know, I did not make the bottle land on me, and I did not make her kiss me." Remus didn't look up from the parchment. This was why he couldn't just go through with his plan to forget they had even had Halloween this year. James was so hung up on it that all he did was accuse Remus of destroying his life with the same game Remus had sworn to someday petition to make illegal.

"You could have gotten up and left. You could have refused. You could have _died_! I would have died for _you_!" James shot across the table.

"James...you are being ridiculous." Remus mumbled around the quill in his mouth.

"You have ink on your face." James hissed.

"You have a stick in your arse." Remus didn't miss a beat. James bristled. Remus sighed and put his quill down. "Look, she didn't kiss me because she likes me."

"What do you mean she didn't! Isn't that why girls kiss boys? Because they like them? She sure looked like she liked it!" James slammed his hands down on the table and Remus lurched forwards to keep his inkwell from spilling.

"No-She kissed me because she wanted you to notice that she kissed me and make you think she liked it. She looked at you when she kissed me, so she wanted to make sure you were paying attention." Remus explained logically. It really did make perfect sense.

"What." James gave Remus a blank look. Remus growled and drug a hand down his face. Well it had made sense to him.

"She was trying to make you jealous. It's one of the basic rules of girls and romance...and it worked rather well." he gave James a pointed look.

"Well its a good thing you speak girl." James grumbled. Remus' eye twitched. "So what do I do, since this is some sort of strange hidden ritual performed by girls."

"You play the same game." Remus simply. "Fight fire with fire. If she wants to make you jealous, don't give in. Pretend like you don't care."

"...That makes no sense, Moony! I do care! A lot! Why should I go around pretending I don't care that she snogged you to make me jealous!" James gritted his teeth and shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Remus sighed. James was really not very good at this.

"Because that is how this works. She is trying to get your attention now, so if you don't give it too her, she will try harder. If you keep toddling after her though, she will lose interest." Remus shrugged. It wasn't rocket since, all James needed to do was read Pride and Prejudice and he'd have this down.

"...Women...make no sense. There is no logic to this." James replied, shoulders slumping. Remus shrugged and picked his quill back up, determined to focus on something schoolwork related while he was still distracted.

* * *

Over the next week James did as Remus had said, not giving Lily so much as a passing glance. He must have still been pretty angry, because he hardly even talked about her when they were all sitting in the dorm, which was easily a first. As each day went by Remus wondered, with maddening intensity, when someone would ask him about kissing Sirius, or tease him. It became an obsession. He constantly tried to think of something else. Anything else, but constantly worried and wondered when he would have to confront it. Maybe everyone else had forgotten it had happened as well. He would just work on helping James with his love life to make up for being kissed by Lily. After all, Lily was becoming increasingly disgruntled by James' sudden lack of interest, and had even pulled Remus over to question him about it earlier that day, looking awfully edgy and unhappy.

It seemed as if the events of the party were going to be completely forgotten until late the following Friday night, when James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius were standing in the empty common room very late at night. It was a map working night, which meant going out when there was no one around to see them tapping status and tickling portraits to find hiddy holes and passageways that had been forgotten.

"Alright, so we need to cover the north end of the castle tonight, and get as far into the unused corridors as possible. This means splitting into pairs. This means only one of us get the invisibility cloak." James said, setting his role of blank mapping parchment on the table closest to him.

"Well...Remus can sense someone before they come, so he is almost as good as an invisibility cloak." Sirius grinned, however, Sirius was standing as far from Remus as the huddle would allow, and his eyes didn't lock on Remus', which was not normal at all.

"Yeah, except he isn't invisible." Peter said shortly. "I can't afford detention right now, I'm already doing it with Binns for falling asleep in class again."

"Alright, so how about Remus and Sirius, since you two work well together, and I will take Petty here, so he won't get detention.

For the first time in a week Remus and Sirius looked at each other, then both started mumbling, looking away.

"Oh...come on, don't tell me you've had a row." James sighed, crossing his arms. "We don't have time for this."

"It's not..." Sirius started, his face rather unmistakably red.

"We...aren't-" Remus faltered, wringing his hands and shifting. He didn't mind going with Sirius. Actually, he was surprised at how little he minded, and that was exactly why he didn't want to do it. That and the fact that he and Sirius would be alone. At night. In the dark. This had never been an issue before, and they weren't playing spin the bottle, so why was he so concerned? If Sirius hadn't brought it up by now, then why would he?

"Well you two are already a happy _couple_..." Peter said.

Peter said the magic words, and suddenly the topic that had been casually avoided was very much hanging in the open. James looked between Sirius and Remus, Sirius looked like he might strangle Peter in a fit of silent rage, and Remus, well he was well aware of what color he had turned. Somewhere around plum. A sudden dawning look of comprehension came to James' face.

"Look, lets just go..." Remus mumbled, not looking at Sirius. Peter looked completely confused, and James looked like he wanted to hit Peter, which very well could happen after they split up. Sirius didn't looked at Remus, but nodded.

"Yeah-fine." He muttered.

* * *

Remus and Sirius split with Peter and James at the staircases, taking different levels of the castle. Sirius and Remus had the upper floor, and began the journey in the awkward half silence of two people trying to avoid the unavoidable. It had become quite obvious to Remus that Sirius had not casually forgotten the spin the bottle event, which was both relieving, in some horrible way, and honestly terrible. The entire situation was beyond unbearable.

They worked their way down the corridors, only speaking enough to communicate what should be marked down on the rough sketch of a map they had worked out for the area. They were both very careful of where their hands went and what amount of space was between them as they walked.

"Didn't James day he had read about an extra corridor that went to the fifth floor?" Sirius asked, focusing very hard on the paper in front of his nose.

"I think he may have said that, but I don't remember where it was suppose to be." Remus answered promptly, eagerly focusing on the task at hand, and not on why he could suddenly only seem so smell something spicy and slightly, but not unpleasantly, doggish. Which he was sure was Sirius. Why would he even care. He had noticed it before, why did it suddenly have significance?

"I think he said it was somewhere-what?" Sirius looked up as Remus' gold eyes went rather round, searching through the darkness.

"I hear something...someone is coming-" Remus hissed, folding the map hastily and looking around. "We need to hide!"

"There is a classroom over here-" Sirius hurried through the darkness, their wants now extinguished, groping for a handle and catching Remus by the wrist.

"-Sirius that not a-"

"-Shutup-" Sirius hissed, not listening and yanking Remus into the now opened doorway with him.

He shut the door, then paused.

"This is a broom cupboard."

"That was what I was trying to tell you." Remus mumbled. This was not even marginally okay. It wouldn't even have been okay if they _hadn't_ kissed. He was pressed right up against Sirius in a very enclosed space.

"Do you think we should...should move?" Sirius asked, his voice sounding a little funny. Remus' slightly glowing gold eyes flicked to Sirius' face, which was tinged pink. Remus felt his own face heat up and was about to comment when the unmistakable cackle of a certain poltergeist came ringing through the corridor, followed by Filtch's yelling. There was a rattle at the knob, more cackling, and then the rush of footsteps chasing after the escaping Peeves.

"...What did he do to the doorknob?" Sirius whispered. Remus reached out and tired it. There was a wet squish and it stuck.

"...He jammed it." Remus whispered back, not because he was trying to be quiet, but because he felt like something was stuck in his throat. His heart maybe? It was beating pretty hard now, for no apparent reason.

"...You're joking."

"Nope. I think it...it was chewing gum." Remus mumbled.

"Do you know a spell to-you know...un-gum it?" Sirius asked, sounding hopeful.

"No...I should certainly find one. So this doesn't happen again..." Remus mumbled, his face was very close to Sirius, and he could smell his shampoo, and feel the heat coming off his face.

"Well...its not so bad-I mean imagine if it was Peter." Sirius managed a wry little smile.

"I don't think we would have fit if one of us had Peter." Remus said quietly. Sirius snorted.

"Well I-" Remus moved his head, which was a mistake, because his face was suddenly only an inch from Sirius'. "-I...just don't know if you want to be stuck in a closet with the fairy queen." Remus could have brained himself right there on a mop.

"...Ummm." Sirius had gone perfectly tense. Remus scratched the mop idea. He'd throw himself off the Astronomy tower instead. "...Well...I mean...a closet full of fairies isn't so bad...right, Titania?"

Remus stopped plotting his suicide and blinked, looking at Sirius.

"Its not?" he asked dumbly.

"No...I don't think so." Sirius said, a laugh in his voice. "And hey, Lily shouldn't get all the action. Honestly I don't know where you learned to kiss like that."

"I snog books."

"Obviously."

"So no...no weird feelings?" Remus asked after a moment.

"You mean besides being locked in a closet talking about the outcome of a girl's dating game?" Sirius asked, still sounding amused.

"...Well, I suppose you have a point there..."

"No weird feelings. We're best mates. Right?" Sirius said firmly, sounding slightly unsure.

"Right." Remus nodded. "Best mates."

"So how about, the two of us best mates, try to unstick the broom cupboard and continue on our marry way and be done with this business?"

"That sounds splendid." Remus agreed.

But somewhere there was something, some little voice screaming at him, furious at him for pretending that he was standing in a broom closet denying several things. Like that maybe he wanted for their to be more than just fairy references and happy small talk in the closet, and that maybe, this whole situation was about as done as James was over Lily.

But he didn't dare say it.

Ever.


	5. Tango De Marauders

_Well here we are with the next chapter of my present! I hope you all have enjoyed the chapters so far, as they take me a good amount of time to put together! We are halfway there Babu!_

_And tomorrow is a very special day…_

**Part Five- Tango De Marauders**

The grounds of Hogwarts were a brilliant white. Snow had fallen to the point that some trees were half buried, and icicles the size of human arms hung from the various overhangs and window sills. The first semester of class was almost at a close, and with it Christmas cheer had taken the castle by siege. With the large flakes falling beyond the frosted panes, and the holly and golden bells hung excessively in every common room, corridor, and doorway, it definitely felt like the holidays were upon them. Some were excited for the vacation as a chance to escape the sneaky mistletoe that was so casually hidden in various areas, hoping to catch the unsuspecting.

With the ending of the term and the approaching holiday there was an excited chatter floating around the entire castle. One of the biggest causes for this high intensity excitement was the Winter Ball, held every year on the final day of exams, and it had the attention of everyone who was old enough to care about going on dates and dressing up to go dancing. This also included a few select members of the Marauders.

Even though the events of Halloween and the spin the bottle match had more or less vanished from the minds of everyone, it still lingered in the curly, brown head of one Remus Lupin, even after all the past weeks and the reassurance from Sirius that it was totally okay to snog your best mate as log as it only happened once. It wasn't as if he sat and thought about it all the time, but it was there. A flare of unknown emotion as Sirius frolicked through the mistletoe coated corridors, snogging all the third year girls who stood and waited to catch him. A strange tightness in his chest, accompanied by the pang of remembrance at the kiss he had gotten. The same feeling jarred him when he started hearing talk of the dance, for more than one reason. Mostly, he tried to pretend that he was not thinking about it, because that would require thinking about some other things that did not need to ever come up.

"This year the ball masquerade themed!" James smiled widely, he wasn't one for dancing, and honestly didn't know how to waltz to save his life, but as the four of them sat at the breakfast table in the Great Hall, Remus knew exactly why James was so pumped about this opportunity.

"Are you going then?" Peter asked, arching an eyebrow, loading his plate down with everything in sight.

"Well duh he is." Sirius snorted, rolling his eyes and biting into a strawberry.

"Do you think I should? I mean, I am haven't really acted like I want to ask Lily." James took a drink of pumpkin juice and frowned. James had been passively polite to Lily, following Remus' instructions on playing that he wasn't interested in chasing after her anymore. This didn't stop him from showing off in front of her however. She seemed to be getting rather antsy about not having James' attention though. She had yelled at him rather animatedly in the hall a few days back for no reason at all. He had been talking to Sirius and she had popped out from around a corner, gone off about how he was a stupid berk, and then stormed off.

"I mean...she use to only yell at me when I bothered her, and now she is taking time to find me and yell at me. I don't know if this is an improvement." James ran a hand through his hair.

"It means she thinks about you." Sirius pointed out. "And if you want to go to the ball you better hurry up and get an outfit together to woo her, its only two days off."

Remus grumbled something under his breath. He had hardly touched his breakfast, mostly because he wasn't hungry. Actually, he was currently feeling more than a little sick to his stomach, but he wasn't going to bring this up to his very excited friends. After all, they had things to look forward to, it wasn't their fault that he wasn't sharing in the excitement. He didn't want to bring down the happy breakfast chatter.

"...Moony?"

Remus blinked as he was jerked from his thoughts, which was unfortunate, because his head gave a nauseating little spin and he closed his eyes a moment, hoping to clear it. "Yes?" he said, still not opening his eyes.

"You...look a little peaky." Sirius leaned forward and caught Remus' chin gently between his fingers. Remus opened his eyes and looked down. Sirius was so good at noticing when he was in any sort of discomfort, even when he was trying his hardest not to show it.

"We can all go to the ball then! It will be great! Hey, maybe we will all get dates and-" Peter started blathering. Remus pulled away from Sirius.

"...I...I think I'm going to be sick..." he mumbled just loud enough for Sirius to hear before standing and quickly leaving the table and vanishing into the crowd near the entrance. Peter and James stared. Sirius pressed his lips together.

"What...what is his deal?" Peter raised an eyebrow. James didn't say anything, Remus never just got up from the table unless something was wrong.

"Peter...Moony isn't going to the ball." Sirius said, his back eyebrows knitting together as realization worked its way through his head.

"Why not? That is totally a Remus thing to do!" Peter frowned. "He loves the whole 'dress up and dance slowly' thing!"

"Which is exactly why you look like a giant arse right now." James pushed his glasses up onto his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sirius, you better go make sure he doesn't pass out in the loo. That really won't help his mood any."

Sirius nodded and stood, following the same path Remus had taken to get out.

"Honestly, what are you lot on about?" Peter sounded annoyed.

"The full moon, you prick." James gave Peter a hard look, speaking lowly. "Its the night before the ball."

"Oh..."

"Sirius...please. Please just throw me out the window...or...or brain me." Remus croaked from where he was sprawled on his bed. James looked over his shoulder. He was playing with his hair, trying to make it look okay in practice for the ball the following night. Sirius was sitting on the bed next to Remus. He hadn't shown any interest in the ball since he realized Remus wouldn't be going. He had even toned down on his hallway gallivanting, going into the slightly over-protective state he tended to adopt when Remus was unwell. Remus was always grateful for the attention, even though he would never admit it, and though he tended to protest on being babied and guarded. Sirius' escorting meant people would actually make an effort not to bump into him, and it was made sure he was never sick on his hair.

"I am not going to do either of those things." Sirius rolled his eyes and ran a hand through Remus' sweat dampened hair. That was something else Remus noticed, when he was out of it or peaky, Sirius was amazingly affectionate. He closed his eyes. "It'll be over soon."

"I know it will be, but its the 'queasy, stomach suddenly has legs and doesn't want to stay put, massive headache' bit that I really don't like." Remus' voice lurched sickeningly and he snapped his jaw shut. James made a face in the mirror at the sound.

"I don't know how you can do it every month." He mumbled, no looking over at the two on the bed.

"I thought it was because I am a woman and this is my period. Isn't that what you said?" Remus laughed weakly, shaking fingers tightening on his sheets. Sirius winced and set a hand on Remus' arm.

"Y-yeah. That's it. Remus and his period." James laughed nervously. Remus really appreciated how hard they tried to keep him cheered up during those most painful hours before the change. It really made all the difference. He winced as pain shivered through him and he caught Sirius' hand in a death grip.

"It's almost time to go..." Sirius said, watching the pale sheen to Remus' face. It was like he had memorized all the signs for when Remus' symptoms began to worsen.

"Yeah..." He muttered through clenched teeth. Just his luck that he always had to go turn into a bloody self-mutilating monster right before anything exciting happened at the castle. Bitterness crept through him.

Sirius' fingers tightened around Remus' hand, and in that touch there was something that Remus couldn't describe, but it felt good. Comforting. He let out a shaky sigh.

"Are you sure you don't want to go with us Sirius? Remus wouldn't want you to sit around here and brood." Peter said, straightening the ugly purple tie he had attached to his equally ugly dressrobes. It stayed crooked.

"Nah, I'm tired, and I hate that formal bullocks anyway. Reminds me of my mom's parties." Sirius said lazily, watching James fix a handsome mask over his face. His hair had been half-tamed, and with his disguise he was barely recognizable. He shifted on the bed to get a better look at Snazy Pants Potter.

"Well, do I look alright?" James turned to Sirius.

"Smashing, now go get yourself a red-headed bird before she figures out that the Marauding James Potter is under all that hair gel."

"Oh Shut up, Pads!" James smiled though, turning to Peter, who had a purple mask to match his tie. "We have a fancy party to crash."

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Peter asked again. James and Sirius exchanged looks.

"Sorry Pete, I have plans." Sirius grinned cheekily.

Remus shifted in the bed, slowly coming too. He had spent most of the day sleeping off the heavy sickness that tended to plague him after transforming. The first thing he was aware of when he was awake enough to be aware of his surroundings, even though his eyes were closed, was that there seemed to be the distinct smell of candle wax, and something else, something like the smell of holly. Which was strange, seeing as the hospital wing normally smelled like cleaning agent and rubbing alcohol. He opened an eye experimentally, and then blinked, drawing in a breath.

The entire room had been decorated, candles burning on every open surface, garlands hanging from all the beds and bed canopies in shimmering gold and silver. The old record gramophone from the dorm room was set up on a cleared table. He felt his jaw fall open.

"It isn't a ball...but you know..."

Remus turned to look to his right, where Sirius was sitting in the chair next to the bed. He had a cheeky little grin on his face, wearing his half buttoned school shirt and slacks. Remus didn't even know what to say. He just stared at Sirius like his brain was half wired.

"How-"

"I bribed Pomfrey. With sexual favors." Sirius dead-panned, the lazy grin still firmly on his face.

"I...I wouldn't doubt it-why-you could be at the actual ball and-" Remus didn't know what to make of the entire situation. This was easily one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for him, besides James, Peter and Sirius becoming Anamagi to go through his transformations with him. That was pretty generous after all. But this was a little different, and didn't have to do with runing through the forbidden forest buck-arse naked.

"You know me. I hate wearing ties. I like things to be a little more casual." Sirius offered a kind smile this time, his gray eyes sparkling as he stood up slowly and went over and set the needle to the record, one of Remus' favorite jazz artists, and turned and bowed deeply. "What do you say, up for a dance with a giant berk?" He grinned up through his hair.

Remus really couldn't believe this. It was the most poofterish...and generally kind thing anyone could do for him. He pulled the blankets off his legs, even though he was a bit shaky, and got out of bed. He had no idea why Sirius would come and set up a winter dance in the hospital wing for him, it was one of those things that he just didn't understand. Like the time Sirius decided that for Valentine's day fourth year, Remus needed an entire two pound box of dark chocolate truffles, and had gone through great care in making Remus find them through an elaborate system of notes.

"I suppose, since you have asked so kindly, and brought a dance floor to my bedside..." He swayed slightly and caught the bedpost. Sirius took two long-legged steps across the floor and steadied Remus, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, I'm a little..."

"I know." Sirius said quietly. "But you deserve to have fun too."

"...Thank you." Remus didn't mean for his voice to come out so unbelievably small and sincere, but it did, and he had to look away from Sirius' penetrating gray eyes to concentrate. He felt like a rather enormous girl, and wanted to tease himself since James wasn't here to do the honors.

In response, Sirius lead Remus forward, and doing the leading so that Remus wouldn't have to exert himself more than he could, they danced along the hospital wing floor.

"You should be my tango partner..." Sirius laughed warmly as they did some silly little thing with their feet that Remus was fairly certain Sirius was making up.

"I couldn't. I have two left feet. You know that." Remus snorted, clinging to Sirius' arms and trying to follow his movements. He made a noise of protest of Sirius dipped him. "Hey-heyheyhey- you don't dip boys!" he snapped.

"I think I just did." Sirius grinned devilishly.

"You are a ponce."

"You're blushing."

"I am not."

Sirius slowly righted them, and at that moment Nat King Coal's Unforgettable filled the room, the soft melody bouncing off the windows filled with snow. Inside Remus' head fourteen angry, screaming bells told him that they were treading into that dangerous water where Remus would start thinking about things he didn't want to think about. Like how he was about to be slow dancing with Sirius' Black in the empty hospital wing. Something told him this needed to stop right now because there was nothing normal about two boys slow dancing in any situation. Ever. Period. He would just go change the song...Sirius' hands found his shoulders and Remus looked up. Is eyes locked on Sirius'. Well never mind then...

"Is...this another another one of those things best mates can do?" Remus asked, arching an eyebrow and trying to sound like he was teasing. It only half worked.

"...Sure. We will add it to our book. Make our own rules and all that bloody hell. We are marauders after all." Sirius smirked, but there was something in his manner that seemed like he wasn't sure.

"...Marauders can bend the rules." Remus mumbled, his hands sliding up Sirius' arms and finding the others shoulders as well, falling into the gentle swaying that Sirius had started.

"We always do."

"Exactly."

Remus wasn't sure if what they had said actually applied to anything, but as he rested his head on Sirius' shoulder, he knew he was having a better time half consumptive dancing in the hospital wing with Sirius in his pajamas, than he ever would have at the ball.


	6. Rainy Day Revelations

_WELL. I was going to do two chapters today, and then this one became as long as two chapters. Yesterday there was no update because I made baby a special anniversary present. c:_

_So today you get a REALLY long chapter baby!_

_ALSO. THIS HAS ONLY HAD A BRIEF EDIT. IT WILL BE EDITED AGAIN WHEN I CAN READ WITHOUT THE WORDS MUSHING TOGETHER._

**Part Six- Rainy Day Revelations**

The bustling in the corridors faded quickly as bodies laden with books and bags filled with parchment slipped through the heavy wooden doors to the classrooms. With winter holiday over and gone, the slugging pace started, everyone waiting for spring and entirely tired of the constant snow and ice that froze the bottoms of cloaks and soaked trouser legs. In the hustle and bustle, two figures stood at the end, carefully hidden by a statue and just out of view of any of the professors that might not have already slipped into their rooms to wrangle the restless gatherings of students.

"Severus, I am going to be late..." Lily ran a hand through her curling, red hair. It ws pulled over her shoulder, and her bangs were curling delicately over her face, framing her green eyes. She regarded her friend with a curious look.

"Well...we have the Quidditch match his weekend..." Severus shifted on his feet, looking more than a little nervous. Lily raised an eyebrow.

"We do...Sev...you have been acting sort of strange lately, is everything okay?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "McKinnon says you've been skipping Herbology."

"I'm fine-I was wondering if-" He was cut off again.

"And you have been vanishing when we are suppose to be studying." She pointed out.

"I apologized for that!" Snape said quickly, looking more pale than usual.

"I'm just saying, I don't like the sneaky stuff that is going on. Why won't let me in? Are you having trouble with classes?" She reached out to touch his arm and he pulled back.

"No-I just-"

"Lily?"

Lily looked up to see the normally cheerful eyes of James Potter looking down at her rather worriedly.

"James..." She didn't bristle like she was prone to, but instead gave him a troubled look.

"You aren't normally one to be late to class Miss Evans, I thought I would come check on you." James said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"She doesn't need you to be checking up on her." Snape sneered at James, who causally ignored the comment.

"I can handle myself, James. I was just talking to Severus, I will be along in a minute." Lily said quickly. There was no edge to her voice however. It had been like that since the Christmas dance. The dance where she learned the James was absolutely hopeless at any sort of slow dancing, but tried very hard, lips pressed together as he was very careful not to trod on her feet. There was something under all the pranks and silly smiles, the hair flicks and bragging. There was something beyond the coaching of Remus that she assumed was happening, something...almost endearing.

"Well, Severus is late for history isn't he? He has it with Remus and Sirius, and that class started...thirty minutes ago?" James arched an eyebrow. Snape's pale face went red and unattractively splotchy. Lily turned to look at Snape with complete an utter disappointment.

"You're skipping class?" her lips pursed.

"I wanted to ask you-" Snape stuttered.

"I...don't care what you wanted to ask Severus. It could have waited until after classes. Unless you need to mysteriously need to disappear again. This was not an excuse to skip." She then turned to James. "I think I would like the escort back to class after all, James...if the offer is still open."

"Of course it is." James nodded, a gleam in his blue eyes, though his face was still very firm. Lily fell into stride beside and they walked back down the hall towards the Transfiguration classroom.

Snape watched Lily go, his face going suddenly very dark.

"You want to play dirty, Potter? I can play dirty..."

"Sirius, the weather is awful, can't you guys put the practice up until it isn't raining?" Remus walked beside Sirius as he hurried down the corridors, Quidditch robes billowing around him. Remus swore that one of these days they would all be a stubborn lot and not take the day off from practice in bad weather and someone would get struck by lightening or thrown into a tree. He didn't fancy the idea of watching Sirius getting fried on a brood in the rain.

"Honestly, we don't have time to reschedule. We have our match with Slytherin on Friday, we need to train." Sirius sounded a little stressed. "The new keeper can hardly block. If we don't win this match, we will lose our chance at the cup." He looked at Remus, who was displaying a perfectly worried expression on his scarred face.

"I...don't like it. Watching you fly around in the rain." Remus muttered. He had half a mind to just petrify he and James and tie them to common room chairs, where they would be dry and safe.

"You don't have to watch, Mssr. Worries About Everything." Sirius gave a cocky grin as he started down the stairs.

"If you are going out in that mess then so am I, Mssr. Wants to Give Moony a Bleeding Heartattack." Remus snapped in response, easily keeping up with Sirius' leggy stride.

"You worry too much."

"You don't worry enough!"

"That's because worrying is no fun!"

"You could at least try to have some bleeding common sense!" Remus fumed, catching Sirius' sleeve as they hit the cobbled floor on the first level. He was not going to give this up without a fight. There were more important things than shiny trophies, like living to see the match where they could possibly win it, or making it to graduation.

"Remus...I will be fine. I have flown in worse weather than this." Sirius said, looking down at Remus' fierce expression, hair falling in his eyes.

"That doesn't make me feel any better." Remus mumbled, looking Sirius dead in the face. He watched the gray eyes flick and try to look away, a strange expression coasting along the finely structured face. "I'd just rather you didn't."

"I...I'll be careful. I promise." Sirius caught Remus' hand, not breaking the eye contact. Remus wanted to squirm, wanted to protest, but instead he twisted his hand to grip Sirius wrist.

"You better be. I'll be watching."

The wind was howling, sleet and freezing rain soaking the Gryffindor Quidditch team through as the did their warm up plays with with Quaffle. The brooms jerked and lurched as they were forced to be steady by their riders. The leafless trees bent and cried as the freezing air and the force of the wind threatened to snap of their branches. Hovering in the pitch was almost impossible.

"This is insane!" Remus shouted to Lily, who had also come out to watch the practice today. Remus didn't have to guess why, James had filled him in that she and Snape weren't on the greatest of terms, and she had probably come out to get away from the castle and the chances of running into him. However, Remus wasn't entirely sure standing in the icy stands, clutching scarves that were completely soaked, around them, was any sort of good time, let alone an excellent alternative. Remus really wished that James were a little more sensible and would call the practice off, but with ow strung out the team was about this match it would never happen.

"It really is! I mean, what are they going to learn? They can hardly stay on their brooms let alone maneuver!" She shouted back, red hair had turned a dark copper that was soaked to her head.

"That is my point exactly!" Remus hissed, giving up on trying to use his sodden scarf as protection against the onslaught or rain and ice. He was soaked through anyway, it hardly mattered. "He is going to break his neck!" Remus blurted, eyes firmly stuck on the little blur with tangled black hair, gaze unwavering.

"Sirius?" Lily looked at Remus. He could feel the questioning expression now fixed on him.

"Yes! He is an utter berk. I wish he would just listen to me..." Remus mumbled, his heart catching in his throat as he watched Sirius' broom jerk dangerously.

"You two are really close...' Lily said. At this Remus looked over at her, and tilted his head in confusion at the small smile on her lips.

"He's one of my closest friends." Remus replied. She just kept smiling in a rather irritating, all knowing sort of way.

"You two are always together. It's sweet. Especially how much you care for him." she replied, pushing her sodden hair from her face.

"That's what friends do, they keep an eye on each other so they don't go smearing their brains all over the Quidditch pitch." Remus replied quickly, his heart seemed to be skipping beats, which was something that it normally only did before he had to give a speech, right before he threw up or something. So either he had caught his death, or he was nervous. Why on earth would he be nervous about Lily implying that he cared about Sirius? Of course he cared about him.

"Best mates who sleep all over each other in the common room when they think everyone has gone to bed?" Lily asked, arching an eyebrow.

"We...have...special rules...marauder thing-" Remus sputtered, his face going hot despite the freezing temperatures.

Lily was about to reply when their was a large amount of yelling followed by a sickening crack that wasn't even remotely deafened by the wind. They bother jerked their heads around to the pitch.

With the end of the passing warm-ups, which were more or less a bunch of unfortunate dips as the players tried to keep on their icy brooms, James ducked over to Sirius, who was about to take his place on the field as a Chaser.

"You ready for me to let all the balls out?" He shouted over the hurricane like noise.

"Yeah! Hurry the fuck up! I'm frozen!" Sirius risked a second to take his hand off the handle, trying to shove the tangled mess of black hair out of his eyes, his broom lurched and he dropped a few feet. "I hate you!" He snapped. "We should have done this yesterday!"

"Sorry mate! Get ready!" James yelled back, dipping down and speeding towards the box of balls on the grass of the pitch.

From the side of the pitch, hooded figured watched James finger the latch, the trunk popping and all the balls zooming out. The figure waved a wand almost lazily, then walked away from the pitch, staying in the shadows.

James went zooming up, there was no way he was going to see the Snitch in this mess. Even the goggles were useless. The other players were lurching around, trying to use the plays needed to go up against Slytherin, and only half succeeding. Sirius managed to a pass or two, which James watched with approval. If they could managed a few of the more difficult plays in this sort of weather, they would have no troubles when the weather was good that weekend. As long as they all didn't catch Pneumonia.

James was so busy watching Sirius and the other players, that he barely had time to register the large mass pelting at him. He the bludger whistling through the air just barely before it was too late, swinging away by ducking upside-down, which in turn almost unseated him. He managed to get right-side-up just in time to see the bludger come flying back at him, not near him, or in his general direction, but right at him. He zoomed away from it, the wind pelting him, and the bludger followed, and against he barely missed a direct hit.

By this point a few other team members had caught on, looking up and pointing. Sirius rounded on his broom, Quaffle slipping from his fingers and tumbling towards the grass below. James ducked several feet before zooming towards Sirius, who met him halfway.

"The bloody thing is rouge!" James shouted as they bother twisted out of the way of another assult.

"I can see that!" Sirius snapped back, watching the bludger round about again and this time went zooming in a strange arc, away from them. "What is it doing?"

"I don't know! Where did it go?" James looked around widely, keeping himself constantly moving so he would be a harder target. Sirius was still, looking around. And then he saw it. The ball had done a zooming lap, and instead of coming at James from behind, it was going to take him from a blind spot on his left.

"-Shit-!" He zoomed forward, just as James saw the ball, with no time to dodge, that was until Sirius was suddenly in front of him.

"Sirius move-!" he choked out, but it was to late. Sirius took the hit, the ball smashing his broom's handle and crashing right into his gut. There was the dull snap of ribs, the sick shriek of snapping wood, and then Sirius was in freefall.

Remus looked at the pitch just in time to see Sirius drop twelve feet and smack into the ground. His face went bloodless a horrified yell escaping his lips, and before Lily could even register what had happened, he had jumped the barrier and was pelting across the field. She threw herself in pursuit.

James and most of the team touched down as Remus reached Sirius, expression so fierce most didn't dare step forward. James lurched forward, looking sick. "-Rouge-the-the bludger-" he croaked. Remus ignored him flat out and dropped down next to Sirius, who was sprawled in the grass, eyes wide and dazed. He could feel his heart slamming so hard in his chest that he couldn't breathe, hands shaking as he looked Sirius over quickly. His left wrist was cocked at the wrong angle, and blood dribbled down his face from his hairline.

"Someone get Pomfrey dammit!" Remus snapped, eyes wide and bordering manic as the team gave him a set of dead, stunned expressions. The third year seeker jerked to awareness, then pelted out across the field at a sprint. James stumbled forward and Lily caught him by the shoulders, giving him a steady look.

"Don't-don't get in the way." She said quickly.

"I have too-" James' voice was strangled, his face white with shock.

"You are in no state." She said just as firmly.

Remus reached forward and touched Sirius' cheek, looking at him, his eyes were out of focus, which meant he was concussed. He swallowed hard.

"Sirius? Sirius I need to answer me-" He said quickly, usinging himself as a sheild to try against the rain and wind.

"...m-moony?" Sirius choked, trying to move and making a very horrible noise in response. Remus winced and held him still.

"Don't-just-for the love of god just...don't move-" Remus felt his eyes stinging, burning with panic and he had to fight to keep from letting the fear get the better of him.

"I-...fell...off the broom..." He blinked. "...fuckow-Hey...hey-why do you-look like your gonna cry?" Sirius didn't seem to understand that his wrist was broken, he had hit his head hard enough to knock him senseless.

"Because I'm scared to fucking death Sirius!" Remus' voice hit an unpleasant octave as it cracked. Sirius winced as he tried to take in a breath, reaching up with the hand that he could get to work.

"M-moonymoony-" he patted Remus' cheek. "I'm-Ima...tough—tough...errr...pasty?"

"Sirius-you are such a-a giant berk-you are a moron-I-" Remus caught his hand, holding onto it desperately. "I hate you so much right now!"

Sirius was looking at Remus, apparently trying very hard to think. James was talking with Lily, who was evidently trying to keep him calm.

"I'm sorry-" Sirius said softly, voice rough and thick.

Remus knew Sirius wasn't going to die, that was a completely illogical train of thought, and he really needed to calm down, but in his head there was this manic little voice screaming that Sirius was about to meet and early demise, and for some reason, the little voice had way more power over his train of thought than he thought it ought to. He squeezed Sirius' hand and gave him a desperate look.

"Just-don't-don't die or anything-which I know you won't-but-Merlin Padfoot!" Remus took a deep breath.

"I...I'm not going to leave you-" Sirius said quietly. Remus eyes went wide, but he didn't have a chance to comment because Pomfrey and McGonagall had made it across the field.

"...Ow." Sirius whimpered as he tried to move his heavily bandaged wrist.

"Don't move it!" Pomfrey warned, checking the bandage on his head.

Remus was sitting in the chair by Sirius' bed. After a large amount of panic, a lot of yelling, and James almost braining one of his team members for not obeying him in getting the balls put away, Sirius was set up in the hospital wing. A broken wrist, two broken ribs, a rather nasty concussion, and some bruises had been his diagnoses. Remus wrung his fingers in his lap. James had been taken by McGonagall to address the issue of the bludger, which was being scanned for tampering.

"Can you make sure he doesn't fall asleep Mr. Lupin?" Pomfrey looked over at Remus, who nodded. He had no intention of leaving Sirius. Period. She then shuffled off to report to McGonagall that Sirius would recover in perfectly fit form.

Sirius grimaced and winced, hand on the bandages over his chest that hid the purple bruising. "Guh-the room is fucking spinning-Moony...Moony...make the room stop spinning..." He lifted his hand and pawed in Remus' general direction. Remus felt his heart lurch into his throat and he felt the hot burn in his eyes again. He wasn't mad now, or scared, he knew Sirius was going to be alright, but something else was there, and when he saw Sirius like this it twisted in him. He stood quietly, cupping Sirius' hand in his own.

"It will stop...its the concussion." e murmured.

"...Do you still hate me?" Sirius looked at him, from the movement.

"...a little bit. You scared the heart right out of my chest." Remus grumbled. "It _stopped_. You almost killed me."

"...I didn't mean to almost kill you...James...the team needs him..." He said thickly, trying to remember exactly how he had ended up on the ground.

"...I need _you_."

Sirius paused, eyes flicking up to Remus. Remus was looking away, he didn't want to make eye contact and have Sirius, in his half-conscious state, to do that thing where he read his soul through his eyes. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know what his eyeball soul would say. He bit his lower lip, fingers tightening on Sirius' hand.

Sirius' hand wiggled it's fingers around Remus' and tugged him closer. Remus glanced at Sirius.

"You do?"

"I do."

Remus watched many things run through Sirius' half working brain, and he fidgeted slightly as he tried to decide what he was suppose to do next. He didn't know exactly what he was suppose to do. He didn't know what it was he meant by needing Sirius. In a friend way? In a,'If you die I will surely go absolutely mental in a library alone' sort of way?

"Moony..." Sirius said quietly.

"...yes?"

"I think I'm going to be sick." Sirius' voice lurched unpleasantly as he lost the topic entirely, trying to sit up. Remus blinked in alarm.

"No-nonono-not on the sheets Sirius-in the bowl-" Remus panicked.

Well, he would have to sit down and puzzle out why he was evidently in need of Sirius. He was starting to doubt he would be able to rely on the 'Maruaders Rules' much longer. After all, Lily had a point, there was something that Remus wasn't acknowledging...and he wasn't sure he wanted too.


	7. Lychanthropy Romance

_Well here we are with part seven! I need to do a double chapter set to finish on time! You are so close to done Baby. You have been so amazing through such a hard, trying time, and being sick to boot. So just hold out a little longer._

_Just a little longer my sweet Padfoot. And you will be with me._

**Part Seven- Lycanthropy Romance**

The thick frost of early February bit into James Potter's face as he hurried across the courtyard. The snow had only just started to dissipate, but in its wake there was a large amount of very dangerous ice and he almost slid to his sure death more than once. As soon as he hit the foyer of the castle he was sprinting, taking the stairs two at a time. The reason for the rush, you ask? A note that had been slipped into his hand while passing through classes exactly two hours, ten minutes, and thirty three seconds ago by one Lily Evans. All she had written on in, in her tidy cursive, was:

Meet me in the common room as soon as classes are over.

-Lily

This was more than enough to have James sprinting over the ice from the Herbology green houses. He had no idea what Lily would want to talk to him about. She had never once asked him to talk, never once passed him a note. Somehow, he had a feeling this wasn't going to be getting asked to go on a date. Love notes were usually hidden, and not written on torn scratch paper. This didn't stop him from nearly plowing into a group of Ravenclaws in his haste. Lily Evans asked him to meet her, he would be there. The Ravenclaws apparently didn't appreciate his dedicated enthusiasm, however. They muttered and fixed their ruffled robes as he tore by.

Upon bursting into the common room, hair ruffled, and robes completely tangled in every way possible, Lily jerked her head up from the book she had evidently been looking at. She stood quickly, snapping it closed, and came over as James tried to make himself a tad more presentable.

"-Sorry, I was in the greenhouses-" He sputtered quickly, hoping she hadn't been waiting long.

"No, its fine...I just..." She looked around and stepped a little closer. There wasn't anyone around to hear them talking really, just a few first year girls talking loudly across the room. He arched an eyebrow. "I...think I know who jinxed that bludger." She said very quietly, her eyes flicking down, face momentarily showing large sadness under all the freckles. James' fidgeting stopped instantly.

It had been proven rather quickly after Sirius' accident a few weeks back, that the bludger that had hit him has been tampered with. However, the Slytherin Quidditch team all had an alibi, they had been working with Snape on a set of plays, and Ravenclaw had used the pitch right before Gryffindor with the same set of balls, leaving no time for them to be tampered with by the team who had been inside all afternoon. This had left the question of who had done it in the air entirely.

"...Who?" James' voice became low and taught. He had been trying to figure out who had done it since Sirius had very nearly broken his neck.

"...You have to promise not to freak out, or go on a killing spree or something..." Lily said quickly, looking anxious. "But you have a right to know after what happened to Sirius."

"Why would I kill someone? I just want to get to the bottom of this, not go to Azkaban." James arched an eyebrow at her and pursed his lips.

"Just...promise me you won't go off..._raging_ or anything, or I won't tell you." Lily said all of this very quickly, giving James a look he had never seen before. She was pleading with him. He exhaled slowly.

"I promise I won't explode or murder or maim anyone." He said, looking at her. She fidgeted a moment.

"I...have reason to believe that...that Severus might have been behind it-"

"-What!" James' face started to go red immediately.

"You promised you wouldn't freak out!" Lily grabbed his arm so that he wouldn't go storming off. "I can't prove it for sure, but I have reasons to think he might have and-James...I'm scared. He has never tried to hurt anyone before...Sirius could have...he..." Lily's green eyes went over-bright and James' building need to go find Snape and break his neck faltered. He froze, setting a hand on Lily's shoulder and nodded.

"Okay...how about we look into this." He said gently. Lily gave him a very grateful look.

* * *

Remus scowled at his book. He scowled at it and he was more than fairly sure that he was going to scare the letters right off the page, but his concentration was not exactly being considered at the moment. No, not in the least, and there was something more about his current situation that was grinding into his skin like a bad splinter.

"Poor thing-you're _so_ brave!"

"I know, he is a real trooper!"

"Does it hurt, Sirius?"

Across the table from Remus, sat Sirius, his right arm in a sling, surrounded by a gaggle of girls that smelled like cheap candy perfume and preteen hormones. They were touching his shoulders and lingering on his every word like he was some sort of war hero. Remus could have put up with it for a day, even two, but this had been going on for weeks. No matter where they went, Sirius' fanclub followed without fail. It was beyond maddening. At this current point in time, Remus could feel his temples throbbing. He did not have the patience to deal with this right now. And they really didn't need to be practically lying on him!

"Oh...it hurts-but not badly. I can handle it." Sirius offered them a smooth, suave, painfully irritating look. Remus growled something.

"You're such a good guy, taking that hit for your best friend!" A blond with large breasts that were attempting to eat Sirius' good shoulder, cooed.

"Sirius, are you free Saturday?" a brunette leaned closer, giving him a coy smile.

"Nono, don't go with her, go with me!" Another tried to shove in.

Remus' eye was twitching, his fingers shaking on his quill. Something like a growl escaped him and Sirius looked up. He evidently noticed the odd shade of purple Remus was turning, because his suave, aloof smirk vanished and he suddenly looked nervous.

"I-I'm not free, actually. Remus and I have something planned." He said quickly. All the girls made moaning sounds of sadness. Remus gritted his teeth.

"Can't you two plan it for another day? Studying can wait!" The blond insisted.

"Its not studying-" Sirius cut in.

"Why would you turn up date?" The brunette countered.

"Because I already have plans!" Sirius laughed, but Remus was able to detect the uncomfortable note, that slight anxiety from the pressure, and angry heat flared in his chest. He grit is teeth and stood up, golden eyes flicking up and fixing on the blond.

"If you wouldn't mind too terribly," he said in a forced polite tone, "We are trying to study."

The blond looked up at Remus, then ignored him entirely. Remus' face went very red. She looked right at him, and then looked away.

"Remus, cool down, we have time to study." Sirius drawled. However, the look in his eyes clearly showed that he regretted the words as soon as they left his lips. Which probably had to do with Remus' face going scarlet.

"Oh-we can do it later?" Remus voice rose rater uncharacteristically. "Says the man with his writing hand in a sling to the one who has offered to help write his two rolls of parchment on ancient magical theory that is due in two days because he cannot hold a quill?"

"Remus-" Sirius winced.

"Yes! Because I don't have my own work to be doing! Which I do by the way! But I was worried about you so I put it off to help you! But no-Your bleeding _fanclub_ obviously takes precedence! Well my _deepest apologies_-" He shoved his things into his bag and stood. "Perhaps you can get one of them to write your essay since the 'brave hero' has so many dates to plan!" He snapped, flinging the parchment at Sirius' stunned face, where it made a rather satisfying noise as it hit him, and then he stormed out, leaving the gaggle of girls staring at him as he went.

"Remus..." Sirius pulled the parchment off his face. "...Fuck."

No...that wasn't the most mature thing he could have done in that situation, but it had certainly felt good, and honestly, he had been holding his tongue for weeks, and if Sirius was going to take his help for-granted, he wasn't going to give it to him. Its not like he had nearly died of worry the entire time Sirius was hospitalized, or offered his help whenever needed to help the other boy get from class to class, or taken notes. And he certainly wasn't jealous that these girls were hanging all over Sirius. That had absolutely nothing to do with anything at all. Even if he wanted to knock all their fluffy, candy smelling, pasty-filled heads together. Repeatedly.

* * *

James and Peter were sitting in the common room, talking lowly, when the door burst open and Remus stomped in, throwing his bag and books carelessly on the bed. He didn't even care about the slack-jawed looks he was getting from the other two. He could honestly care less about everything by this point.

"...Moony?" Peter asked quietly.

"Shut up Peter." Remus hissed.

Peter and James exchanged looks. Remus tossed a glare over his shoulder.

"What."

"Well...you don't...don't _do_ angry. So I am mildly curious about what the hell got your knickers in a twist." James was the one bold enough to speak this time, looking up at Moony.

"He is tall, wears combat boots, and has a bunch of fleas disguised as pre-teen females." Remus growled through bared teeth. Peter scooted back, eying Remus cautiously.

"Oh, is he still flirting with all those girls?" James raised an eyebrow. Remus gave James a look that could melt metal. James snapped his jaw shut.

"Can we talk about what you two have been doing all day?" Remus snapped accusingly, sitting on his bed and crossing his legs. He hoped he didn't look as prissy as he felt.

"Lily thinks she knows who jinxed that bludger!" Peter blurted, evidently he did not have the nerves to stand up against Remus' withering look.

Remus felt his heart jump in a rather unpleasant way. Every reminder that Sirius had almost been killed because someone on the grounds rigged a bludger, made him feel tense. Whoever had done it wasn't afraid of getting someone killed. Of being charged with murder. This was more than a silly prank. It was really dangerous. "Who does she think...?"

"Snivellus." James said shortly. Remus' gaze snapped back around.

"...Snape." He said slowly.

"Yeah. Apparently he has been acting really strange. He won't talk to her about anything, and that bludger was meant for me. The same day, before practice, I found them talking in the corridor. He was keeping her from getting to class, and I probably peeved him pretty bloody badly." James ran a hand into his hair. He was not a fool, and when the gravity of the situation came down, he could be more mature than Remus.

"That...that isn't good at all." Remus murmured. If Snape really had rigged that bludger, he could try to do something again. Something more dangerous. "We need to talk to someone. McGonagall. She would know what to do."

"We can't." James said softly.

"...Why not?" Remus and Peter said together.

"Because I promised Lily I wouldn't say anything until we knew for sure." James said softly. Remus felt his jaw go slack. This was James Potter. James Potter who absolutely hated Severus Snape with every fiber of his being and had been trying to get him expelled since first year, and here he was, saying they could not give him up as a suspect to something that was actually a serious issue.

"James...I think you might have your priorities mixed up." Peter said quietly.

"Sometimes there are more important things than getting back at someone, Pete." James snapped irritably.

"This isn't really just getting back at someone, James. Someone else could get hurt." Remus was on Peter's side this time.

"Look, you guys don't understand-" James gave them and angry look.

"-Oh. We understand. You getting a bloody date is more important to you than your mates!" Peter stood up, balling his fists. Even when angry his voice didn't get very loud.

"-What?" James choked.

"-Peter-" Remus frowned, they were both out of line.

"Shut up Remus! You are only being so touchy because you have a big stupid crush on Sirius!" Peter shouted.

The room went very quiet, and Peter's words seemed to resound through the small space. James watched Remus, and Remus felt like something, some horrible, nasty, unfortunate part of his brain clicked into place. He swallowed, his throat suddenly very dry, then turned slowly and walked right back out of the common room, leaving the now white faced Peter, and very confused James in his wake.

He did not have a _crush_ on Sirius Black.

That was absolutely ridiculous.


	8. Cupid Evans and the Valentines Adventure

_Alright! I am surprised I was able to write so diligently after being so tired from work! That's right! Here is the next chapter!_

_And tomorrow, my most lovely darling who this story is being written for will finish her portfolio, and with it, this amazing adventure will come to a close, and I will need to think of something more to do._

_You all should know, that my inspiration, as any good Moony will agree, comes from my Padfoot._

_Who I love most dearly._

**Chapter Eight- Cupid Evans and The Valentine's Andventures**

Sirius drug his hand through his hair, then down his face, and made a most inhuman noise, flopping back on his bed. It was the noise of defeat, of frustrated confusion, and mild pain as his half-healed wrist smarted. James sighed from his own bed, where he had been scritching furiously on a paper that was due that afternoon, quill feather bobbing about madly. Sirius made another frustrated noise. James looked up and frowned.

"Are you trying to get my attention?" He arched an eyebrow.

"My god James, you must be a physic! How on earth do you do that?" Sirius drawled, dropping his arm back onto his face.

"Look, you have been sitting there for twenty minutes huffing and puffing like a teenage girl turned down for the dance," James gave him a hard look. "If you want to make up with Moony so bloody badly, then maybe you should actually try talking to him." Of course, Sirius didn't know about Peter's unfortunate outburst, and James had no intention of telling him. After all, there was no way to prove that Remus was indeed, crushing on Sirius, even if he _had_ stormed out and proceeded to not talk to anyone but Lily for the past week and a half.

"No really..." Sirius sat up and gave James a look of staged awe. "How do you do that? Do you read people's minds, Prongs? Because that is an invasion of privacy you know-"

"Sirius-" James set the quill down entirely, giving his best friend a very pointed stare.

"-I mean, what would you do if you read my mind and I was thinking about Lily in her knickers, eh?" Sirius continued.

"Sirius-shut up a minute-'

"-or what if I was thinking about all that hot sex I am going to have with that neighbor girl of yours? Hmm?"

James chucked a pillow at Sirius' face. It connected with a dull thud and fell into his lap, sending long strands of black hair into the latter's pale face.

"-unnf-! Hey!" he snapped, casting the pillow aside. It did a rather unimpressive backflip off the bed, flopping onto the floor. "That isn't nice, I was just giving you the facts mate."

"I'm not kidding, Sirius. This isn't something someone else can fix. This is something _you _have to fix."

"When did you get all smart about stuff like this?" Sirius growled, not looking at James, who rolled his eyes.

"You are only saying that because you know I'm right." He picked his quill back up.

"You think you know everything because you and Lily are finally getting along." Sirius shot him a dirty look. James' eye twitched.

"I will have you know, that Lily and I are going to the Wild Whirlies Coffeeshop for Valentine's day. And I will also have you know, that when it comes to Remus, and the three times he has ever gotten made about something, you have to _make_ him talk. You know how he is, bottles everything up and waits for people to either forget or until he has had sufficient time to box up whatever it is and stick it in the room for Moony problems. I also know for a fact that there is something more to all of this that is bugging you and that is why you haven't tried to fix it yet." James shook his head. Sirius sighed quietly, his irritated expression slipping away into defeat.

"You always have to make so much bloody sense..." He mumbled.

"Yeah, well, I happen to be extensively fluent in berk." James grinned.

"You better be, considering you are one." Sirius snorted. They looked at each other, and then grinned broadly.

* * *

The smell of the dust settled over the library, collected after centuries of being filled with the volumes, some of which hadn't been pulled in almost as long, was almost a calming sort of perfume to Remus Lupin as he sat at the table near the very back. Sirius had very kindly dubbed it 'The Brooding Corner', because it was hidden from view almost entirely, and Remus only frequented it when he was attempting to avoid the entire population of the school, including the Marauders. Remus fondly like to think of the corner as his happy place. Well, normally it would be. Today, however, it was doing very much the opposite of being generally good for his sanity. After a week and a half of digesting what Peter had blurted in the dormitory, interrupted with Armageddon flashback to Halloween, spiced with the way it had felt dancing with Sirius in the Hospital Wing, had left him on the brink of a nervous break down.

"-Gggnnff-" He dropped his face into his hands, elbows propped on the book displaying very complex configurations of Runes. He didn't have time to be hung up on Peter's jab. But it wasn't just a jab, was it? That was why it bothered him so much, because it was the set of words that created the idea of the one thing he had been trying not to let creep into his subconscious.

He didn't have a crush on Sirius. They just bickered like a married couple, and needed to be together constantly, and went out of their ways to make sure the other was okay and content. That was what anyone would do with their closest friend right?

"I am...in so much trouble..." He muttered.

"I wouldn't say that?"

Remus jumped as a smooth, very female voice met his ears, looking up to see Lily Evans, in the flesh, slid into the chair across him, a gentle smile on her lips.

"What?"

"Don't get mad, James told me what happened with Peter. You know how he is around me, like a puppy. Its a little disturbing sometimes." She laughed lightly. Remus dropped his face to the table, forehead on his book. Great.

"Yes...well..." He mumbled. "Its not true, what Peter said." he said rather unconvincingly.

"Is that so?" She said softly, leaning her chin on one of her polished, thin-fingered hands. He noted that the color of the enamel was the same as her eyes.

Then he paused. Why did he care if it matched her eyes? Why did he care so much about things like that? Or people thinking he had a crush on Sirius? Why did it bother him so much?

"Lily..." He said softly. "Is it strange that I don't want to date? And that I notice nail polish colors?" He looked at her, expression rather distraught. Lily was so sensible, she would surely have some insight.

"...I don't think so." she shook her head. "I think that you are just generally very aware of things like that. And if you are implying that because you don't want to date girls, or that you notice little details makes you quite possibly gay, I don't think that is true either." She smiled. Lily was entirely too good. She always knew when people were beating around the bush, and when to bring things to the point.

"You don't?" He mumbled, his face going a little red.

"I don't. I think, Remus, that you would like someone to like them, not because you are a flaming homosexual, or any of that. You have always accepted people, and always been kind and open minded. Liking Sirius, if you do, _could_ mean you are bent, and it could mean that you like people for who they are and gender isn't an obstacle."

"But...I...liking your best friend?" Remus mumbled. "Isn't their some sort of social code about that?"

"...isn't their some sort of social code that says that I shouldn't go on a Valentine's date with James Potter?" She said softly. "People are people, Remus. You of all people, with all the reading you do, should know that a heart is a fickle thing." She closed her eyes. "And sometimes, it chooses things that make no sense at all."

Remus looked at the slight color to Lily's cheeks as she spoke, the way she suddenly looked unsure of herself, and felt like they were on the exact same page.

"Hearts...really don't make much sense at all, do they?" He asked quietly.

"Not ever, but I think that is what makes life so interesting." Lily smiled.

Remus nodded, and for the first time in months, all the confusion in his head, colliding with the feelings in his chest, twisted into something tangible. He closed his eyes. He was probably the biggest idiot in the entire world, trying to give romantic advice to people, when he didn't even know how to deal with his own heart.

* * *

"So Peter has a date too?" Lily smiled as she slipped into the chair on the opposite side of James, the coffee shop was rather crowded, but they had managed to get a window seat, the glass displaying couples walking through the dusting of snow on the ground, holding hands or linked at the arms. The shop windows were warm with reds and hot pinks. She straightened her dark green skirt over her knees and smiled at James, who appeared to be very close to having a nervous break down.

"Err-yes. He s going to Madame Puddifoots with a Hufflepuff. I can't remember her name." He said quickly, then laughed. "That place is...well-"

"Terrifying?" Lily offered.

There was a pause, and James seemed to loosen up a great deal. "Yeah, it really is." He laughed. Lily smiled warmly.

"So what about Sirius?" She leaned forward on the table.

"Oh, he doesn't actual date anyone, I think he flirts more to keep his manly pride. Other than that, he has never had a steady girlfriend, despite how many girls claim they held the spot." James shrugged. "I don't know why."

"Hmmm, I don't either..." Lily said, sounding like she knew a little bit more than she was letting on. James didn't notice.

"So, what would you like, Miss Evans?" James offered her a rather handsome smile, compared to the quirky little lop-sided grin he wore when he was trying to look cool. This was the James Lily was learning about, and she liked it more than she wanted to let on.

"I am rather found of the Pumpkin Frapps they have here..."

Remus slipped into the little booth in the crowded coffee shop. He was wondering more and more why he had bothered taking Lily's advice on going out. It was more than depressing to be sitting at a table alone in a shop filled with people on dates. He looked at his volume of Sense and Sensibility that he had brought along with him and suddenly felt like the biggest hopeless case on the entire planet.

He honestly had no idea what had possessed him to do this. He probably looked like a giant Poof, taking his book on a date.

"This is a good place!"

Remus went rigid as a very familiar, very suave, very Sirius Black voice cut into his thoughts. Could he not manage any privacy at all? He looked up as Sirius, in a loose t-shirt, leather jacket, and combat boots, slipping into the booth across from him. Remus looked back down. Maybe he would leave if he didn't acknowledge his presence. Puppies were like that right? Don't give them attention and they give up and leave?

"Remus, you might as well say, hello. I'm not leaving." Sirius leaned forward on the table. Well, it was worth a shot.

"What do you want." Remus sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I want you to stop ignoring me." Sirius replied easily, looking through his hair at Remus. It was really not fair, how Sirius' eyes seemed to read his soul right through his clothes...okay, that was not a helpful thought. At all.

"Well I am trying to read and drink coffee, but I obviously am not getting what I want either." Remus grumbled.

"Bugger off, you came here to get out of the dorm so you wouldn't be left alone with me." Sirius snapped, now sounding a little hurt. Remus looked up at him.

"No...I cam here because Lily said it would be good for me to get out."

"Well, you coulda fooled me, considering you won't even talk to me in class." Sirius fixed a hard look on Remus and he fidgeted, feeling rather uncomfortable.

"Well excuse me if I don't want to be the extra weight to you and your team of admirers!" He snapped angrily. Honestly that wasn't really the big problem anymore, but it sure made a good excuse.

"I don't give a fuck on a broom what they think or do!" Sirius smacked his hand on the table.

"Well you could have fooled _me_!"

* * *

"...Did you hear that?" Lily paused, stopping mid-conversation as someone yelled and hit a table. "Is a couple having a row."

James, who had the view over Lily's red, curly head, made a face and sighed tiredly.

"Well, you could certainly say that." he rolled his eyes. "What are Remus and Sirius doing here anyway."

Lily pursed her lips and glanced away, hoping James wouldn't notice the slightly guilty look on her face.

* * *

"-Look you can't just keep ignoring me!" Sirius was frustrated, Remus could see it, and there was something else too, something unreadable and a little nerve-wracking in Sirius' eyes.

"Why not?" Remus growled lowly.

"Because I can't fix things if you won't hear me out!" Sirius threw his hands in the air. Many of the other couples were staring now, murmuring. Remus sank low in his seat.

"Well, could you have at least decided to corner me in a less public place?" He frowned deeply.

"No." Sirius snapped, leaning forward on the table. Remus watched his expression carefully.

"You do realize half the room thinks you are either insane, or my angry date?" He asked carefully.

"Well they have one part right." Sirius said, and he blushed. Sirius Black actually blushed.

"What do you mean they have a part right?" Remus felt his chest knot in a not entirely unpleasant way.

"I am your angry date." Sirius mumbled. "I mean...if that is okay...just for tonight? Like-fuck that just sounds fucking weird- I'm not-It's not-buggering hell-" Sirius Black was stumbling all over his words.

Remus' mouth had fallen open. He wasn't entirely sure he was even sane anymore. There was no way he was still sane. Sirius looked less so than he felt. He kept staring at Sirius, and then, for no real reason that he could explain, he started laughing, so hard he could hardly breath, collapsing forward on the table.

"Hey-! That-It-it isn't-funny dammit!" Sirius sputtered, looking indignant and embarrassed

"I know its not-I-'m sorry-it's just I am sitting here and you say that and I keep thinking about being naked and everyone is staring-bother!" Remus kept laughed, his eyes tearing up.

"...Why...would we be naked?" Sirius blinked, looking even more confused.

"Oh-at this point I could be an alien and it wouldn't surprise me!" Remus snorted.

"...I broke you. I have broken Remus Lupin. I have ruined the world." Sirius covered his face with his hand.

"No-" Remus looked up and grinned. "Really-I'm sorry Sirius. But you just asked me out. And for some reason it makes me really happy, which makes me question my sanity a bit-"

"It makes...you happy?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"It this a marauder thing?" Remus asked suddenly.

"No?"

"Then it makes me very happy."


	9. Cliche Constellations

_ALRIGHT. I am so sorry for the delay everyone, this chapter was written around some really horrible work shifts, and Padfoot can tell you, it frustrated me almost to tears more than once. _

_BUT HERE IT IS, the second to last chapter of the story for my baby._

**Part Nine- Cliche Constellations**

There is something to be said about going on a date with one of your best mates, it could be the way you somehow stop fighting and suddenly are having a brilliant time, or possibly the long walk side-by-side, walking through the snow, where fingers brush in a not so accidental way. Remus Lupin didn't know why he really had no problem at all with the fact that he and Sirius were flirting and acting like a pair of love-struck teenagers, but he knew very certainly, that after that night, things between he and Sirius changed.

Neither of them spoke it aloud, but the change was there. The excuse to sit as close as possible without actually touching, the constant exchanging of glances in every class, or the bumping of knees under tables. Remus didn't know what this game was, or how to play it. There were no rules and no boundaries, and he was enjoying it. He was enjoying it a lot, and it terrified him.

This strange situation, growing more apparent with each passing week, continued into spring, in which Remus and Sirius became so engrossed in the next opportunity to make the other laugh, or smiles, or say something in return became so constant that James decided someone needed to step in.

Because, as Remus would later learn, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were terrible at making moves. Very much unlike James Potter.

"Sirius!" James stepped into the common room and pointed at the handsome, lounging form of Sirius, draped across the sofa. Sirius' head swiveled around, in his hands was, quite interestingly, a rather old looking book.

"What in the name of-"

"Male bonding time. Now! Come along, good Padfoot! While the weather is still decent!" James declared. A few first years in the corner gave him strange looks. Sirius arched an eyebrow.

"James...I'm reading." Sirius protested, holding up the book.

"Since when do you read Shakeyness?" James raised an eyebrow.

"William Shakespeare, Prongs, somewhere in this castle Moony just had a fit. Honestly." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"...You and I really need to talk." James dead-panned.

* * *

There was a soft murmur in the hallways as students decided how to spend the sunny afternoon now that classes were done for the day. Near a pillar the tall, Remus stood next to Lily, who had asked him to talk with her when he had a free moment. He didn't have to try hard to guess what this was about. Her frequenting his library tables, sitting with him at breakfast, it was a lot like first year in reverse, when she had befriended him.

She was distraught about Snape. Normally they were inseparable after classes, and she would do everything with him, including studying and after class activities. However, lately they rarely spent any time together at all.

"I...don't know what has gotten into him, Remus. He use to be kind you know. I know he...isn't to you, but he was. He was so gentle when we were kids, and so sweet." Lily wasn't looking at Remus as she spoke, her eyes on the blooming green of the Forbidden Forest. Remus leaned next to her on the pillar and closed his eyes.

"I don't know...I wish I could tell you, but I just don't know him well enough." He said quietly. He really didn't know what would make someone skip classes and ignore their closest friends. Unless Snape had become a werewolf, which he found very unlikely, considering his disappearances were very erratic.

"I miss him." Lily said softly. "I also am afraid, for him...and of him. His mood is so bad most days that he usually only says hurtful things. I know he doesn't mean it, but he sounds just like his parents. They aren't good people." She said quietly. "And then there is James. I never thought he could be...not a berk." She shook her head.

"Honestly, I didn't think he was capable of being something other than a berk either." Remus smiled softly. "I think you bring out the best in him."

"I just wish he would stop doing that thing with his hands and his hair." She said, a small smile playing on her lips.

"It looks like he has a nervous tick." Remus chuckled. Remus had not failed to see that James had a habit of chronically trying to make his hair get all fluffy. It really didn't make him look like he had a nervous problem, which was in a way true. It was Lily Evans induced anxiety.

"What about you and Sirius?"

Remus froze, face going very red as he wrung his hands. He hadn't expected her to bring that up.

"What do you mean? We aren't fighting or anything-" Remus could have thrown himself into the lake for how nervous he sounded.

"You know perfectly well that is not what I meant. I am referring to the fact that you two are attached at the hip and flirting like you are somehow being casual about it. Which you are not. By the way. There is nothing subtle about pretending to fall asleep on Sirius." She smirked as Remus went very red, making the scars on his face look very white as he sputtered.

"I was actually sleeping!" he snapped indignantly. Which was a complete lie, and sounded like a complete lie. He had really just wanted the excuse to be close to Sirius, which of course was flirting. He didn't want to think about it too hard, but it was.

"So what are you going to do? Flirt and tell yourself you aren't forever?" She crossed her arms and gave him a pointed look. He frowned. What was it with girls and always know how to bring a subject right to the point. It was really just unnerving.

"I...well, I will probably just keep doing that...until I have to stop." Remus admitted quietly. "I mean...he will get bored eventually, and it all probably means nothing."

"I don't think so, Remus. I think he has liked you for a long time and just didn't know how to handle it. And neither do you. If you don't do something..." Lily gave him a hard look. "You will miss your chance."

Remus went quiet, looking at her strangely green eyes.

"So what do _you_ want, and what are you willing to do for it?"

* * *

The warm, spring breeze brushed over the slowly greening grass. It was still brown in patches, but under the tree the marauders frequented, it had turned soft and thick, creeping over the gnarled roots. Sirius was leaning against the rough bark of the trunk, eyes on James, who was sitting on a branch.

"So...why are we here Prongs? Our version of bonding is usually chasing down Slytherins and

Sirius went so read it gave Lily's hair a run for its moneyhanging them upside-down in girls bathroom." He looked at James.

"We need to talk. About you and Moony." He said simply. Sirius stiffened and crossed his arms over his chest in the protective gesture that meant he didn't want to talk about it.

"What do you mean? He and I are fine. Why? Do you think we aren't or something?" Sirius asked quietly.

"No...I think you are both boody berks." James said simply. "And that if you really want to be with him, you need to make a move.".

"I don't know what the hell you are talking about Jam-"

"Don't give me that bullocks, Sirius. I'm not stupid. You two are practically married. I'm just saying, make the move, before he thinks you don't care and gives up. Remus is not going to do it. Hell, you know him-he probably thinks no one will ever like him like that." James snapped, hopping off the branch and standing in front of Sirius. "And frankly, the whole googly eyes thing you two do in Transfiguration is driving me absolutely bloody insane."

"How do you know what-googly-what?" Sirius went a little more towards purple now, which really wasn't very flattering with his complexion. He glared at James now, looking like he might deck him. James took a step back.

"I'm just saying mate-what does he mean to you?" James said earnestly. Sirius' lips pressed into a thin line.

"He...he makes sense. Everything makes sense when I am with him. And he...he smell like chocolate..and tea. And books. And I like him-James-what the fuck do I do?" Sirius' hands balled into fists.

"You tell him that." James said simply.

"Just like that? 'Oh hey Moony, nice morning, wanna be my boyfriend'?" He sounded bordering panic now, arms twitching at his sides. James eyed him warily.

"I'm not telling you this to freak you out-"

"You think I am gay?" Sirius snapped.

"No-I think you love Remus." He replied softly. "And at first I thought that it would be really weird...two blokes, two best mates...you know...and then I realized you and Moony...well...you work."

Sirius' arm shot up and suddenly had James by the collar, the other arm raised to hit him, his eyes wide and surprisingly open.

"You aren't going to punch me." James didn't look terribly alarmed for someone being held at the receiving end.

"How do you know?" Sirius snapped.

"Because I am right."

Sirius growled and dropped James irritably.

"What do I do?"

* * *

The common room was dark, empty save for one figure sitting before the dying fire. The late hour mixed with the large papers that always were assigned before exam time had sent most people to bed early. The boys dormitory door opened silently, and the stairs creaked as someone descended.

Lily turned her head from the embers, glowing a deep crimson in the black ash, and fixed her green eyes on James, hands shoved in his pockets, walking over to her.

"Are they back yet?" She asked quietly, watching James sit down in the chair beside hers.

"No. I haven't seen or heard from them in hours." he made a disgruntled noise. "Maybe...we shouldn't have pushed them. They have always been the sort to just sort of...you know." He made a vague gesture with his hands. Lily smiled softly.

"Something tells me that this time they needed a little help. They were both too insecure to do anything on their own."

"How would you know that?" James asked, raising an eyebrow, leaning forward a bit in his chair.

"...Call it, Woman's Intuition." Lily said with a smile, making James scoff.

"You're telling me that women have some special magic that allows them to know about other people's love lives?"

"That is exactly right."

"...what does it say about us?" James' voice went quiet. Lily looked away.

"Sadly...we can't use it on ourselves."

* * *

Dusk was settling over the castle as Remus walked through the empty corridors, not entirely sure what to do. He didn't want to go back to the tower, Lily's words were ringing in his head and he knew he had to do something. The problem was, he wasn't the person who usually instigated things. He was the sort of person who casually hinted things in passing and watched those words wreak heinous destruction when later put forth in pranks, or in everyday use.

"I suppose...that happened when I agreed to help James..." He murmured. "I just can't keep my nose out of things..." He drug his hands through his hair and took a breath, then blinked. How had he gotten as far as the astronomy tower? He pursed his lips and reached for the door. In all honestly a lot of what had happened over the past few months was so...cliche. The things that happened were all things, with variation, that he had read in countless volumes.

So why hadn't he realized any of it?

"I am not even allowed to help other people anymore." He muttered, walking into the room that was nothing more than a giant glass dome. He could see the castle grounds from any angle for miles, and the sky, slowly speckling with stars, hung above him like a mysterious black veil with holes punched through it. Like the sort parent's let their children make blanket forts with, and through the fabric the sunlight drip through...only it went on for eternity.

He let his eyes scan the heaven's until he found Orion's Belt, and then...the brightest in the line of stars, Sirius. Sirius really was a star. He doubted he would ever say it aloud because it sounded like such entirely poofterish, but Sirius was the brightest light in Remus' life, and he didn't want to ever let that go.

"The view up here is always amazing."

Remus jumped, jerking his head around to see Sirius leaning in the doorway, his hair falling into his face. It was almost illegal to look so handsome all the time. Remus wanted to walk over and mess his hair up just to see if it was possible.

"I thought you were hanging with James..." Remus watched Sirius push off the doorway and walk into the room. There was something in his face, something tight, almost nervous. Sirius didn't _do_ nervous.

"He was busy...procrastinated an essay."

They stood side by side for several long moments before Sirius replied.

"Sirius-"

"Remus-"

They looked at each other and there was another pause before Sirius ran a hand trough his hair.

"You go first." He offered a tight smile. Remus frowned, feeling suddenly on the spot.

"I...okay. I-bother-why do I have to go first?" Remus mumbled. Sirius gave him an almost amused look. Remus wondered why on earth this was so hard. Lily was right, they had been saying everything without words for weeks.

Words were suppose to be his strong suit, and they were failing, just like the books already had.

"I...think we need to talk-" He muttered quietly.

Sirius immediately looked panicked.

"-James was right-no-Remus listen-I'm sorry I-"

"-James was right about what?" Remus blinked, confused.

"-No-I just need to say something before-"

"Before what?"

"I think I like you!" Sirius stopped and went red across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, catching Remus' arm. "I mean...like...not in the way that like-buggering hell...like...I think I-I-"

Remus' eyes fixed on Sirius and something clicked in his brain. James and Lily were sneaky.

"Sirius...I...I don't want to lose you-"

"Why would you lose me! I am standing here trying to tell you-" He stopped and let Remus go. "That...I think I might...love you...or you know..."

There was a moment where Remus didn't think he had heard correctly, but the look on Sirius' face told him that there was no mistake.

"You...love me?"

"I...bugger-well-I think I do-I mean- Fuck...Remus, you _know _I'm not good with explaining my feelings I...I can't not be with you. And I am not talking friendship and best mates and marauders..." he said quietly.

Remus looked at Sirius, standing there with Orion's belt over his head, and an expression like a lost child, and thought very vaguely about how they were really a very unique flavor of cliché before stepping forward and looking at Sirius.

"I think...you should really kiss me now." he said softly. "Because...I think...I might love you too." He said quietly.

Sirius looked down at Remus, then reached up, cupping his cheek.

"Really?"

"Yes really."

Sirius smiled widely and leaned forward, pressing his lips to Remus'. It wasn't clumsy and bruising like the spin the bottle incident, but soft, and gentle. Remus fisted Sirius shirt and pushed against him, not wanting to pull away. He wanted to stand there pressed together until the universe above them ran out. He wanted to kiss Sirius until he dropped dead. After what seemed like three eternities, but only seconds, Sirius pulled back and looked at Remus.

"So...Does that mean I can do that whole, 'will you be my pooftering boyfriend' bit?" He grinned warmly.

"Only if you promise to never-" Remus gave him a playful smiled. "-Take advice from James again."

"Done." Sirius grinned, and kissed Remus again.

All in all, Remus could easily say they were probably the most overdone, predictable love story ever to exist, but as they stood under the glass dome kissing, pressed together and lost in each other, he knew that it was how they were, and he wouldn't want it any other way.


	10. Magic Hearts

_That is right everyone, it is finally here, the last chapter of 'Ten Ways to Say I Love You'. I appologize for the wait, and I think you, everyone, for being patient, and for keeping up with this story. _

_Foe everyone who has taken the time to read this, thank you so much. It will under-go a large edit on my next day off, and any horrible typos or technical errors will me fixed. _

_If anyone has a request for something they would like to see me write, please send me an ask!_

_As everyone knows, this story was written for my Padfoot, as a motivator, and gift, to get her through a very hard time with a school project that caused much stress and difficulty. 26,000 words later, she helped me, by being my inspiration, write the longest piece I have ever managed._

_So, a giant thank you to my baby, my darling, my brilliant, shinning star. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. She showed me that I can be whatever I want, and what I want, is to be the best person I possibly can be for her,_

_So this story, all 26000 words, its for you Taylor._

_I love you._

**Chap****ter Ten- Magic Hearts**

The end of the school year always brought mixed feelings to the Marauders, and this year, these feelings were tripled by the new developments that Remus could only truly define as, 'growing up'. This act of 'growing up' had lead to the moment they were currently standing in. Peter trying and failing to match his socks and put them in his trunk, Remus and Sirius sitting on one of the unmade beds, fingers laced, and James, pacing the floor like a mad-man.

Remus glanced as Sirius, catching the gray eyes in that way where they were about to use that magical non-verbal communication that they had mastered over the past year. Sirius' fingers tightened on his own and Remus smiled softly.

"-I mean, I don't know what I am doing wrong! I just- I don't care if she doesn't want to...to be with me—but..." James stopped and looked at Remus and Sirius, glasses slid down the bridge of his nose, blue eyes bright and panicked. "I really...I love her..."

"Then tell her that." Sirius said. "I mean, that is what you told me to do."

"I _have_ told her!" James balked, stopping mid-stride to glare at his best friend. Remus shook his head.

"No...you have to really tell her. Not shout it at her, or ask her on flouncy dates. You have to sit her down and look her in the eyes and tell her." Remus frowned. "Which really just sounds like a bad romance movie, but honestly James, I think in the past year we have made our own brand of cliche. I could write a book! 'Ten Ways To Say I Love You: How to use every literary cliché in existence'. By Remus Lupin." Remus wrinkled his nose. "What happened to us being a bunch of boyish pranksters?"

"Puberty?" Sirius offered.

"Guys, have you seen my yellow sock?" Peter asked from under his bed.

"Bugger my life." James sat down hard.

* * *

Lily took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The courtyard was warm, almost empty as everyone packed their things and collected themselves for another summer of swimming, romping, playing and lack of study. The sweet smell of spring tinted her hair, a brilliant flame in the rare Scottish sunlight. She was normally with Snape on their last day of school, planning how to sneak out to see each other over the summer, but as was usual with him these days, he was no where to be found.

"Shouldn't you be packing?"

"I-" Lily turned her head to see James Potter walking up, his hands in his pockets because the wind was doing more than a fine job of making a mess of his hair. He stopped beside her and looked out over the grounds, to the forbidden forest. "I was just thinking...and its noisy inside..."

"I agree. That is why I left." James said softly, looking at her from over his glasses. She watched his face, every expression. He looked so serious which was not like him at all. There was no sloping smile, no smug air of arrogance. Instead there was someone else, the someone Remus talked about who looked wise, and thoughtful. Someone who thought about what came out of his mouth before he spoke. This James that hid under his facade of pranks and playful cunning.

"You came to talk to me." She said softly.

"That might be a part of it." A very gentle smile came to his lips.

"What...what was it you wanted..." She felt thrown for a loop, not used to this serious James.

"I want to tell you something. Something very important. I don't want an answer, not yet. You don't have to say a thing, I'm just...just asking you to listen, and possibly for a chance."

Lily's green eyes didn't leave James' as she nodded, very slowly, letting him turn her so they were face to face. He took her hands, cupping them gently and running his broom-handle rough thumbs over her soft, freckled wrists. She felt the rosy pink creeping across her nose and cheeks.

"Lily Evans, I love you. There is no other girl, no other woman. You are the only one. And I love you. I know, I know I am trouble, and I am bone-headed, and I can be a giant ponce. But I will never leave you, I will fight for you for the rest of my life."

Lily's lips parted, her eyes going wide.

"James-"

He put a finger to her lips and shook his head.

"I love you, and I know...right now is hard for you, so you don't have to say anything yet...I just...I won't stop trying. Ever. I will always be right here, right when you need me. And maybe...in the fall, you wouldn't mind going on a date?"

Lily stared at James, and then her green eyes filled with tears that slipped down her cheeks and she pushed James hand out of the way and caught his shirt in her little fingers, getting on her tip-toes and kissing him hard. He went stiff momentarily with surprise, but his hands then slipped, every to gently, around her waist.

They stood their, kissing in the grass, ankle deep, and nothing seemed to be more perfect.

* * *

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"He's James bloody Potter, Remus. He'll be fine."

Remus turned to face Sirius, his back now to the corridor window that they had been peering through to try and get a look of their best mate, off battling the war of love. Entirely Sirius' idea, mind. Remus certainly was not the type for such invasions of privacy. Never.

"'Love is Blind'."

Remus blinked and looked up at Sirius as he spoke, a strange flutter inside his chest. It was like he had swallowed a snitch. Remus wondered if Sirius would always make him feel like he had a strange magical item lodged in his lungs. "That...that's Shakespeare."

"I borrowed a few of your books." Sirius smiled warmly, his fingers brushing Remus' cheek. "Billy Shakes. He has the right idea."

"Billy—Padfoot-"

"Shhhh. I'm brilliant." Sirius grinned cheekily.

"I...fine." Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius leaned in then, kissing Remus very softly and humming happily against his lips. Remus kissed back and closed his eyes. This was how it was suppose to be. This was the most right he had ever been. Sirius had always been with him, even before they met, he had only been waiting for that moment when all that black hair, sparkling eyes, and mischievousness would come crashing into him. People always say that romance, that love is something you only ever see in books and muggle movies. Things like that don't happen in real life.

As Remus pulled back, and he slipped his fingers through Sirius', he smiled.

"Well, Moony. What say you to a little walk while Petey looks for his trousers? I hear tell of a corridor we haven't looked at yet." His eyes flashed dangerously.

"Oh? Well, we better investigate, heavens knows, we might not have time next year when we are planning weddings around O.W.L.s." he smiled casually as they walked towards the moving staircases.

"Weddings? Moony, we don't need matrimony! I thought we were going to become a swashbuckling pirate duo!" Sirius laughed, the barking laugh that made heads turn and smiles hook on faces.

"Pirates? Sirius...you need to stop reading my books. I think you have a skewed perspective of reality now."

"Come! Let us investigate! We have twelve hours before the train leaves!"

As they took the stairs, fingers laces, smiles wide and brilliant, Remus knew, cliché or not, love was real. The battles of love, the things you read about in stories, they were all real, and each person experience it at their own time, and in their own way. After all, if magic exists, why can't love? Love is its own kind of magic, the kind that come right from you heart, the magic of your soul. When Remus looked at Sirius, he felt the whole world click into place, like a finished puzzle. They were their own story, with all the elements. They were something special and unique.

This love he had, this deep, honest, infectious love for Sirius Black, it was probably the most dangerous, brilliant, and dangerous thing he had ever experienced in his entire life.

But he would never trade it.

Not for anything.

* * *

The early summer air brushed the spiraling towers and heights of Hogwarts castle, the birds singing their sweet songs and the windows glinting in the radiant glow of sunlight as the students packed their trunks, said their goodbyes, and went on their ways.

But for the Marauders of Hogwarts, it is just another chapter closed in their story, and the next is only beginning...for there is never and end when there is trouble to be had, hearts to be one, and mysteries to unravel.

There are ten ways to say 'I love you'...

But they are never the same.

For now and forever

_Mischief_

_Managed._


End file.
